The Shadow Menace
by Art n' Music
Summary: Pre-PP. One day, a new enemy emerges, as well as a new ghost. When she meets Danny Phantom, her life is about to take an unexpected turn. Being re-written 4 chapters plus Prologue up.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

Danielle, or Dani for short, sits on a chair, tapping her foot on the floor. She's thirteen and has shadow-black hair, bangs that cover her right eye, icy blue eyes, and is wearing a two-piece jumpsuit, following her family's safety rules. Her shirt is gray with a mixed DP in the middle that means Dark Phantom, the name of her favorite band. She is wearing white jeans with black stripes down the legs, and black boots. Her dad, Rafael Fenton, the brother of Jack Fenton, is a muscular man in his early thirties with brown hair and blue eyes, like her daughter. He wears a red shirt underneath his lab coat and blue jeans. Like Jack, he's interested in ghosts. His wife, Veronica Fenton, is a beautiful woman, with long, jet-black hair and hazel eyes. Like her husband, she wears a shirt underneath her lab coat, and jeans. The family lives in Indiana in open land, a couple miles from a city, so the experiments don't disturb anybody, and in a ghost hot-spot.

As her parents do some finishing touches, Dani yawns and asks, "So why did you call me down, Dad?"

"I thought you wanted to see our latest invention that my brother emailed me. It took a year, but it will be all worth it." Rafael said.

"I cannot tell you how much that means nothing to me." The teen said sarcastically.

Veronica says, "C'mon, sweetie. We've been dying to show you this."

"Fine. I guess I'll see what it is."

"Now I present to you…" her father grabs the cloak. "The Ghost Portal." He removes it to reveal an octagon metal ring in the wall, with control panels inside as well as wires, and a meter on the side. Dani examines the machine and guesses, "An octagonal hole in the wall?"

Chuckling, her mom says, "No, sweetie. It's a portal to let humans travel to a world called the Ghost Zone and back with ease. It may not look that great, but wait till we charge it up."

_Why couldn't I have a regular family like everyone else? _Dani thought to herself for the millionth time.

"That's right baby." said Rafael. "So let's power this up." He types a password on a keypad and picks up two large plugs. Raising them close together, he says, "Bonzai!" and plugs the charger together. The machine starts to hum to life. A white light starts in the middle, growing larger, and Dani's curiosity grows. As a green light replaces the white, the teen gets up and walks back, remembering a few experiments gone wrong.

The green glow grows until it fills the hole, then it vanishes in a blink of an eye. They look at the portal confused, and the dad asks, "What's the problem now?"

Veronica picks up a few pieces of paper and checks them over. "This is strange. According to this, all systems should be fine."

"At least it didn't explode like the other times." Dani said. "Now if that's all, I'll go back upstairs."

"Hold on, Dani. I'll just check the systems inside and see if all of them are online." Rafael starts to walk toward their machine when suddenly a person floats through the floor and stops in front of him. "Hello, Fentons." He fires a black beam and Rafael flies to the back. "Daddy!" yelled Dani. She turns back to the stranger and gets a better look at him.

He is a tall, pale, muscular man with green hair and blood red eyes. He is wearing black armor and a black sheath on his back and a sword. Dani looks down at his boots and sees them floating a couple inches off the ground. "A ghost?"

The phantom turns his head toward her, and a chill runs down her back when he smiles. She backs up, and her mom runs in front of her with a ghost gun. "Back off, ghost."

He chuckles and asks, "Do you really think that a wimpy gun can stop me from completing my mission?" A beam flies and blasts the ghost back. He shakes his head and looks at Rafael carrying a bazooka-size firearm. "I suggest you listen to her. She can be uncontrollable when angered." The parents fire their weapons, but the ghost phases through the floor, making the beams hit the metallic walls. Dani backs up, afraid where he could be, and feels a hand grab her neck. The ghost floats up, a menacing grin on his face. "Mom!" Dani yells.

She turns and sees her daughter in the clutches of the trespasser. "Put my baby down!"

"Why would I do that?" he asks, chuckling.

Struggling to get out of his grasp, Dani asks, "Who are you?"

"I guess introductions should be named. I am Zepherus."

Charging her weapon, Veronica orders, "Put Dani down. Now."

Zepherus chortles and says, "Alright. I'll put her down." He throws the teen into the not working Ghost Portal. Veronica runs to her, but the ghost fires another beam, stopping her from continuing. Rafael shoots, but Zepherus dodges and fires at the man. The dad flips up a piece of metal and holds it like a shield. The ray bounces off and cracks the roof. Rafael grabs a couple of small toys and throws them at the ghost. They explode, letting out greenish smoke and minimizing everyone's' vision.

Dani gets up, having a headache, and sees her parents in danger of the ghost. "Mom, dad…" Her hand slides against the metal walls and she feels something get pushed in the wall. A humming sounds around her, and the portal starts to glow. _Uh oh._

Green electricity shoots out, making the portal glow and shocking the teen. She screams as she feels every cell in her body being ripped apart and put back together. She feels something meld inside her as power flows in her veins. Her hair turns from shadow black to snow white, her skin turns tanner, and her suit changes color to a black and white color theme.

Veronica hears the screaming and notices that there is a soft, green glow coming from the portal. She turns and sees a silhouette in the radiant portal. "Dani!"

Rafael turns and Zepherus uses the distraction. He shoots him back, and was about to fire the mom when something slashes his arm. He grabs it and sees Rafael holding a glowing green shuriken. He growls then says, "Until next time, Fentons." He phases through a wall, and Rafael checks on the portal. "Veronica, that's going to blow!"

"But what about Dani?"

They look at the portal, and Veronica runs to the control panel. "Veronica!"

Suddenly, the whole ghost Portal detonates, sending waves a fire and green light all through the house, and the house blows up. Fire blazes across the wood and what's left of the house, and a trail of smoke shoots out. Dani crashes onto a tree and slides down to the ground, unconscious. A white ring appears around her waist, and splits down her body. Her costume is replaced to her regular suit, and her hair turns back to its regular color.

Fire trucks, Ambulances, everyone heads for the ruined house, the TV announcer talking about the unexplained explosion. One woman walks around, notices the comatose girl, and takes her to the doctors.

* * *

In the sky, a small figure watches the doctors lay Dani on a stretcher and puts her inside the Ambulance. "So, one of the Fenton's survived." He senses a presence, and turns to see a faint black form floating next to him. In a voice as cold and smooth as ice, he asks, "Did you finish your mission, Zepherus?"

"I got rid of two of the Fentons, but one survived the explosion, somehow."

"Then finish her. I don't want any Fenton left alive."

"Yes sir." The shadow vanishes, and Zepherus flies toward the nearest city.


	2. Chapter 1: New in Amity Park

**Chapter 1: New in Amity Park**

In the state of Illinois, a small town thrives, sending joy and happiness around the civilians. You may think that this town is peaceful and safe, but it has one flaw. Ghosts run amok the city. Because of one family creating a portal between the Ghost Zone and the real world, letting ghost of every kind escape and terrorize the inhabitants. They would have made the place abandoned if not for one hybrid hero: Danny Phantom.

Because of an accident, a regular, fourteen year old teen named Danny Fenton has turned into half ghost, and uses his power to keep the ghost at bay. Over the months, he has fought his worst enemies, and his powers have grown.

Right now, the end of Summer Vacation is nearing, and fifteen year old Danny and his friends are fighting against the Lunch Lady. A row of wienies wrap around his leg and throws him through the window. "That move is so lame." He gets up and shoots the ghost, sending her to a wall. Sam throws the hero the Fenton Thermos, a device used to trap ghost, and Danny sucks the Lunch Lady into it. "There."

Tucker checks his PDA and says, "Wow. Record time."

"Now that that's out of the way, let's grab some grub at the Nasty Burger." He reverts to his human half, and the three friends walk to the famous restaurant. The Nasty Burger is filled with teens from Casper High, and Danny sees the school bully beating up a nerd. They order their food and head to an empty seat. The friends talk about the short battle with the Lunch Lady, and soon their order is ready. While eating, Sam sees the doors open and their teacher, Mr. Lancer, overweight and bald with a beard, walks in with a teen of fourteen that she doesn't recognizes. "What's Mr. Lancer doing here?"

The boys turn and see their teacher walking toward them. Suddenly, his ghost sense went off, and he looks around, but doesn't find the ghost. Tucker guesses, "Maybe he's giving that hot teen a tour of this place."

"She kinda looks like you, Danny."

"What? That's not true. She doesn't look any-" Danny turns and gets a closer look at the mysterious teen. "Whoa. She kind of does. But that shirt is a little too gothic for me."

The teacher and teen walk to them and Mr. Lancer says, "There you are kids. I would like to introduce Danielle. She will be attending our school next week."

The three says hello, and Danny asks, "Why bring her to us? Why not Dash or someone else more popular?"

"Well, I think you and Miss Danielle here would be great friends. Now if you excuse me, I have lessons to plan." Mr. Lancer walks out, leaving the teen with the ghost crew. Danielle asks, "Can I sit down?"

"Sure." said Danny.

The teen girl sits next to Sam and they all introduce themselves. "I'm Danny.

"My name's Tucker. But you could call me Tuck, or Tuckerino."

"I'm Sam. Are you Goth by chance?"

"Not really."

"Then what's with the shirt?"

"It's just my style. Some people even call me a tomboy."

Tucker asks, "So, do you have a number?" Sam puts his burger in his mouth, and says, "Sorry about that. He likes to flirt with the girls in our school."

"I noticed that."

"So, you live nearby Danielle?"

"Yeah. On 3215 Keeper Street. And call me Dani."

"3215 Keeper Street. Isn't that the orphanage?" Sam guessed.

"Yeah."

Danny asks, "But don't you have parents?"

Dani looks down, grief spreading across her face. "Oh. I'm sorry. Did something happen to them?"

"Yes." She said, coming close to crying.

"Do you mind telling us what happened?" Sam asked, trying to comfort her.

"It happened last year. All I know is that a huge explosion occurred, and they…killed my mom and dad." She covers her face with her hands as tears start falling out.

Tucker sits next to her and hugs her. "It's alright. Share your pain with me."

Dani pushes him away, and he falls off the seat. Sam and Danny chuckles, and the Goth says, "Wow. I've been wanting to do that."

The teen calms down and says, "I should get going."

"Why don't you stay a while?" Danny suggested.

"I would, but I have some…errands to run. See ya." Dani walks out of the restaurant when Danny's Ghost Sense appears. "Oh great." He runs to the bathroom, and making he's alone, he cries, "Goin' Ghost!" and a white ring appears. They split and he reverts to Danny Phantom. He turns intangible and flies out of the restaurant, examining the surroundings. He scratches his head in confusion, then hears something explode from behind. The phantom flies into the city and looks for the source. He sees the annoying, child ghost called Youngblood firing his cannonballs from his pirate ship. Ghost pirates cause havoc around the place. The hero flies up to the ship and sees Youngblood. "Now why are you here?"

"There you are, Phantom. I just came to have some fun, being a pirate and all." His hook hand turns to a cannon, and fires at Danny. He dodges them and shoots an ecto beam at the kid. He dodges the ray and makes his sword. He swipes at the phantom, but he dodges it and was about to pound the kid when something flashes past his eye, and he finds Youngblood on the ground, dazed. Danny Phantom looks around; trying to find what dazed the ghost, but doesn't find anyone. He takes out the Fenton Thermos and sucks Youngblood into it. He watches the ghost ship vanish, as well as all the ghost pirates. Danny continues searching for the mysterious flyer, but all he sees is a crowd and animals. He flies away and hides in an alley where Sam and Tucker are waiting. After changing back to human, he runs out and Tucker says, "So, how was it?"

"I had to face Youngblood, and I was going to beat him up when something flashes in front of me. The next thing I know, Youngblood is on the ground, dazed. After trapping him, I tried to find the source of the flash, but couldn't."

Sam ponders on the news, and says, "Do you think that we have a secret ally that's helping us?"

"If we do, then why does he keep it a secret?" asked Tucker. Danny looks down the road and sees Dani walking. "Hey, should we tell Dani about our secret?"

Sam looks at the teen and says, "I don't know. How about we wait a while before she knows?"

"Okay, if you say so." The boy notices Dani look around, and head into another alley. "Where's she going?" He runs after her, and Tucker and Sam try to catch up. When Danny runs into the alley, and finds himself in a dead end: No doors, no fence, just a plain, brick wall reaching up. "That's weird. Where'd she go?" Suddenly, his ghost sense appears, and he looks around. He turns ghost and flies up to the sky, and finds something flying. Danny follows the mysterious object, trying to catch up to it, but soon, the ghost vanishes, leaving Danny confused. He floats to the ground, and his friends catch up, panting. "Why…did you just…fly off?" Tucker asked.

"Didn't you see it?"

Sam says, "No. Would you mind telling us?"

"I saw something flying in this direction, but before I could figure it who or what it was, it vanished."

"Well, let's figure it out another day, okay? School is only a week away, and I want to enjoy summer vacation while it lasts."

Reverting human, Danny says, "Alright." The three walk back to town, and after saying their byes, they head back home.

What they didn't know, is that the teens are being watched.

* * *

On top of a building, a shadowy figure wearing a black cloak and pale observes the three teens walking back. "So, a new Fenton is here, this one with the powers of a phantom. Well, isn't this a nice surprise. Soon, I will see what he is able to do." Zepherus laughs as he vanishes in a cloud of black swirls.

* * *

Danny walks through his doors and finds his mom working an yet another ecto gun. "Hey mom."

"Hi sweetie. How was your day?"

"It was good. What are you working on now?"

"Oh, another portable ghost portal. Much smaller the original."

"Okay."

"So, anything new today, out of curiosity?"

"Well, Mr. Lancer introduced us to a new girl that'll be going to Casper."

"Really? What's her name?"

"Danielle. But she likes to be called Dani."

Maddie puts her welding torch and says, "Well, isn't that a nice name. What does she look like?"

"She has black hair with bangs that cover her right eye, which are green, and seems to like the dark side."

"She seems unusual. Maybe we could meet her parents someday."

"Uh, yeah. You could, up in heaven." Danny said.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You see, her parents are…well…dead."

"Oh. Poor girl. How did it happen?"

"From what she said, an explosion."

Silence flows through the kitchen, until Maddie says, "I wonder if we can do anything to help her?"

"How 'bout we adopt the girl?"

Danny and Maddie turn around and see Danny's sister, Jazz, who is seventeen, walk in. "What did you say?" Danny asked.

"Adopt Dani. That's my idea."

"Why?"

"Well, if she's an orphan, than why not give her a family that loves her?"

Maddie says, "You know, that's not a bad idea."

"Didn't you say that two kids are enough?" Danny asked.

"Well, yeah. But that was when you two were full of energy, bouncing around the house. Now, you two are sophisticated. Well, mostly."

"And I always wanted a sister." Jazz said.

"What's wrong with a brother?"

"I've been with a brother for fifteen years. By now, it's gotten a little old."

"That sorta hurts, Jazz."

Jazz begs, "Please? Can we adopt her?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt, but I don't know how your dad will take it." said Maddie.

"What are you talking about?" Jack, Danny's and Jazz's dad, walks in, carrying a too-big gun.

"Jack, I thought you were in the lab."

"I just came to get some fudge when I heard you talking about…what was it…adopting someone?"

"Yeah, dad. I thought of adopting a sister when Danny said he met an orphan." Jazz said.

"Great idea! That way, I can blabber on about ghost to her. So, what's her name?"

"Danielle." Danny answered. "But would like to be called Dani."

"Dani? Well that will get confusing."

"So it's decided. Tomorrow, we're getting a new family member." said Maddie.


	3. Chapter 2: New Ghost in Town

**Chapter 2: New Ghost in Town**

Dani's eyes snap open, breathing heavily. She gets up and places her hands on her face. _Why am I having these dreams? Maybe Ms. Kirtlan is right. I should see a therapist. _The teen grabs a journal on her desk and turns to a blank page. Following Ms. Kirtlan's advice, Dani writes her dream in it. When she's done, she turns to an old dream, and reads the passage:

_Clouds circulate around a building. A tall, dark figure rises, holding a dead-black sword. "Now, Danielle, it is time to meet your maker." He thrusts his blade at a white-haired girl, coming close when everything darkens and I wake up._

A shiver runs through her body as she recalls the atrocious nightmare. When Dani puts her journal away, she looks outside and sees that it's still early. She bangs her head on the cold window, wanting to rip her dream into pieces. "Why do these dreams always wake me up _this_ early?"

To pass the time, Dani sits on a chair and takes a piece of paper out of a drawer. She starts drawing a blade that's in her mind. The edges of the cross-guard and the rain guard curves upward, the pommel has two spikes shooting down, making an upside down V, and the edge of the blade has three barbs peaks upward.

She stops and closes her eyes to try to trigger a lost memory. All she sees is a green explosion and a dark ghost. She digs deeper and sees faint figures, and when she tries to clear it, all she finds is a blurred image, but she can still see the black hair on one and the blue eyes on the other, like hers.

Dani opens her eyes and sighs in defeat.

* * *

**Later…**

The Fenton RV parks in a lot and everyone gets out. Maddie looks at the sign and asks, "What did Dani say she is staying?"

"3215 Keeper Street." Danny answered.

"Well, this looks like the place." The Fenton family enters through the doors, and sees a cheery room where a few kids are playing around. They walk to the desk where a lady sits, reading a magazine. She looks up and asks, "Can I help you?"

Maddie says, "Yes. We would like to adopt."

"Wonderful." She beamed. "Is there a specific child you are thinking of, or do you want to have an interview?"

"Do you have a teen named Danielle?"

The desk lady takes out some forms and says, "Danielle. An unusual girl. She usually stays quiet, and some of her pictures are a little…dark. Probably has something to do with the explosion a year ago in Indiana."

"Indiana? Hey, I think that's where my brother lives." said Jack.

"You have a brother?" Jazz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll, uh, tell you about him later."

"So, is there anything else we might need to know?" Maddie asked while signing the papers.

"Yes. Danielle has amnesia, so it's been hard to pinpoint of she has any relatives. She is smart and creative in art, but they are usually of spooks and phantoms, especially this one." The lady reaches into a drawer and takes out a paper with a figure on it. She gives it to Maddie, and she examines it. "She seems a little troubled. What exactly is this?"

"The way it seems to be in a state of floatation, and the unusual appearance, I'm going to guess someone of the supernatural."

Danny takes the picture and looks at it. The guy is tall, with green hair and sinister red eyes. He has a pale complexion, and muscular under his shadow-black armor. On his back is a scabbard, the sword in his thick hand. He is snarling, and is in a form that he is about to fire, on his right hand a black glow. Jazz looks over her brother's shoulder to look at the picture, and whispers, "Do you recognize him?"

"No. This ghost doesn't look anything like the ghost I fought and befriended. But by judging his armor, I'll guess that he's medieval."

"Do you think he's a new enemy?"

"Hopefully not. I got enough enemies as it is."

Maddie finishes the forms and says, "All done."

The lady examines the forms and says, "Everything seems to be in order. Now your family can just sit over their while I get Dani." She presses a button, and calls into it, "Mrs. Josoph, could you please get Danielle in room 311. She has a family waiting for her."

* * *

The teen girl puts the finishing touches on another masterpiece, when the door opens. Mrs. Josoph, a good friend of Dani's, enters and says, "Hey, Dani."

"Hi Mrs. Josoph. Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, but someone is waiting for you downstairs."

"Who?"

Smiling, she says, "Your new family."

"Really?" Dani couldn't believe it.

"Yes. Now hurry up and collect you stuff. I even got you a suitcase." Mrs. Josoph rolls in a bag, and leaves Dani to pack her collections.

* * *

The Fenton's waits for the girl, Danny staring the image. _When I get home, I'm going to need to see if this ghost is in my files, or, dare I say it, ask Skulker._

He hears a door open, and looks up to see his friend and an employee walk out. The employee points to the Fenton's and Dani walks to them. Maddie gets up and says, "Hello. You must be Danielle."

"Yeah."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. This is your father, Jack, your sister Jazz, and your brother Danny, and I'm Maddie, your new mother."

Dani smiles as a new life opens up to her.

On the trip back, Jazz talked with Dani, getting to know her better. Danny was only half listening, mainly trying to figure out the dark ghost. He did learn that Dani has a talent with a guitar, can ride a skateboard, and is a small daredevil. Much like a guy.

When the family got home, they all emptied the weapon storage, to Jack's disappointment, to make a room for Dani. When they put a bed in it and a table and desk, the teen puts her bag in it, and Maddie asks Danny to give her a tour of the place. The two head outside and walked around, Danny telling his new sister all of Amity Park. "Over there is the Nasty Burger, where pretty much most teens from Casper High like to hang out."

"Their food isn't _really_ nasty, is it?"

"Don't worry. It's just a name they used to get people to eat their food. It's actually pretty good. C'mon. Do you want a snack?" After the girl says yes, they enter the restaurant, which is packed with teenagers, and Danny orders him and his sister a meal. After they walk back out, the ghost hybrid leads Danielle to the school. "And here is the school we'll be going to next week."

"Casper High, huh? Why name it after a ghost movie?"

"I don't know, but it does match with the town."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well…every town has something unique about them. Amity Park's unique gift is ghosts."

"As in, real ghosts?"

"Yeah. But don't worry. This town also has a protector, who is, ironically, a ghost named Danny Phantom. As well as ghost hunters."

"And our parents are ghost hunters?"

"Yeah."

"So, could you tell me more about this Danny Phantom?"

"Well, he started as ghost who just saves the day, capturing the ghosts that threaten the city, or sometimes world. Later, a ghost, that likes to make rules, made the whole town think he was bad. But he still did his job, and after saving Amity Park from a ghost called Pariah Dark, he turned back good in the eyes of millions."

"And he's still saving the town?"

"Yes." The two are silent for a while, then Danny says what was in his mind, "Dani, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Yeah, what is it?"

He takes out the picture and asks, "Do you know who this is?"

Dani takes the paper and looks at the figure. "This is mine. Where'd you find it?"

"The desk lady gave it to us. Do you know who that is?"

"I don't really know. I see him in my dream, but I feel like I've seen this guy before."

"Is he a ghost?"

"I think so. Why?"

Realizing what he did, he says, "Oh, just curious. And he might appear around here, and I thought I should be ready in case, because he looks tough."

"Well, I'm pretty sure he won't come. Whoever he is."

"Hey, Danny!"

The Fenton's turn and see Sam and Tucker running toward them. "Where've you been? We've been trying to find you all morning."

"I've been busy."

"With what? Hey Dani."

The teen girl waves, and Danny answers, "My family and I went to the orphanage and adopted someone."

"So you got a new brother or sister?" Tucker asked. "Who is it?"

Dani raises her hand and says, "Me."

The African-American's jaw drops, and Sam smiles. Suddenly, she hugs her, surprising Danny. "Congrats, Dani."

"Uh, Sam, you do know you're in human contact, right?"

When the Goth lets go, she says, "What? I can't have a hug every once in a while? Even if I am Goth?"

The friends chuckle, and Danny looks at his sister, and sees that she looks a little worried. "Dani, is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing. Uh, could you excuse me for a minute?" The teen runs off, and the hybrid scratches his head. "What's up with her?"

"I don't know."

Tucker asks, "Do you think that she has a secret boyfriend?"

"Tuck, give it up. She will never go out with you." Danny said. Suddenly, he gasps as a blue wisps comes out of his mouth. "Oh great. Now what ghost wants me dead?"

The trio turns around and the ghost boy gets blasted on the chest, sending him flying back. After stopping feet's from his original position, he looks up sees Skulker with his cruel grin. "Hello, whelp."

"Skulker. Are you serious?" The ghost hybrid gets up and transforms into Danny Phantom. Floating up, he continues, "Every time we fight, you always get sucked into the Fenton Thermos. Do you really want that to happen again?"

Skulker still smiles, spooking Danny a bit, when he says, "Well, unlike last times, whelp, I have an advantage."

"Yeah, what would that be?" Suddenly, the ghost boy gets shocked from behind, sending him back to the ground. After crashing, he looks up and sees the familiar green-skinned ghost wearing a lab coat. "That would be me, ghost child."

"Skulker and Technus working together? Why does that sound familiar?"

Sam and Tucker run to help, but the robot ghost aims his arm and shoots out strands of ecto goo. It grabs the friends and sends them to a wall, trapping them. "Nice try, but this is ghost business."

Danny's anger swells a little as he flies to the ghost. Skulker turns and a fist pound his face, sending him flying. When he gets control of his flight, the hunter growls and aims his gun, but Danny Phantom fires his ecto beam, shattering the revolver. He was about to fire again when the hybrid gets shocked from behind. The boy turns and sees Technus with his hands full of electricity. "Did you forget about me?"

Before he can do anything, Skulker shoots Danny out of the sky, and he crashes next to his friends. "Man, this is like fighting Skulktech 9.9."

"And you lost in that battle." Tucker said.

Sam says, "Not really helping, Tucker."

A hook grabs the ghost boy, and he gets pulled back to the duo. Skulker says, "I wonder why I didn't think of this before."

"Uh, maybe because you're a lone wolf?" guessed the hybrid.

Skulker swings the rope, and sends him flying back to the ground, creating a small crater. Danny groans and looks up to see the two ghosts charging their weapons.

"Say goodbye-" Skulker said.

"Ghost child." Technus finished.

Danny says, "Whoa. Déjà vu."

Suddenly a flash streak past, sending the robot ghost away. Technus looks around to try and find the source, and gets blasted. "Okay, who shot me?"

"That would be me."

The tech ghost turns to the voice and gets punched in the face. Clutching his nose, he looks up and saw a flash of black and white. He turns back to Danny, who is still on the ground, bewildered. "Wait, if you're there, then who punched me?"

After Technus turns around, he is wrapped by a green lasso. "What?" He is flung around, and flies to Skulker, who was flying back up. They both fall back down, the lasso vanishing. The hunter pushes Technus off, rubbing his head. "Who, on Earth, can do that?"

"Me, ghosts."

They look up and see a girl floating. She is wearing a crossed black and white suit with a mixed DP on her chest, black jeans with triangular white stripes running down the front, the base ending at her white boots. Her white and black gloves stretch down her arm, ending in a spike, with a smaller one on the on the opposite arm. Her long, white ponytail runs down her back, ending around the waist, her green eyes full of mischievous.

Technus's jaw drops, and Skulker asks, "Who are you?"

"Dani Phantom." she said, grinning.

"Another Phantom? One was enough." Technus said.

The hunter growls and charges his weapon. He flies after the ghost girl, but she vanishes. The hunter looks around, and he hears, "Over here, robot." He turns and a green ray sends him to the ground. Skulker looks up and sees Dani Phantom. "Wow. How could the ghost boy lose to you?"

Technus sneaks behind her and was about to shoot electricity when Danny punches him into a building. "You take Skulker, I'll handle Technus."

"If you say so." She flies after the hunter, and Danny lands next to the ghost of technology. "Not so tough when she's here to even the odds."

"Whatever, ghost child, I can still take you on. You may not have noticed, but we are in the middle of a technology store." His hands start to glow, and all the computers, phones, IPods, and TV's fly toward him and merge together. When the glow vanishes, the ghost boy can see a robot with a screen face. "Let's see you take that."

"Oh, c'mon. Is this all you can do?" Danny asked. He fires a plasma ray at it, but the beam bounces off the suit. "Okay. Was not expecting that." The robot swings an arm, knocking Danny out of the building. After crashing onto the ground, the ghost kid looks up and sees Dani Phantom battling Skulker. Danny gets hypnotized by the fight, getting up. Technus flies out, along with his robot, and says, "Now, ghost child, it's time to get what I so…deserve." He falters when he sees Danny not paying attention. "Uh, hello? Making an evil statement here."

Danny still doesn't pay attention, and Technus walks up to him. "What is so important that you can't pay attention to me?"

The hybrid grabs the ghost's head and makes it turn to the battle. Technus's bespectacled eyes widen as he watches the fight.

Skulker shoots his revolver, but Dani just dodges and kicks the hunter in the jaw. He shakes off the pain and shoots his ecto-net at the ghost girl. It captures her, and Skulker smiles. "Well, I can always have you pelt on my wall."

"Dude, that's just gross." The net starts to glow green, and Dani rips it to pieces. She fires another plasma beam, knocking the hunter back. She grabs his suit and says, "I suggest you get out of here before I rip you to pieces and squish your ghost part like a bug then burn you to a crisp."

Skulker gulps and runs off, screaming. The ghost girl chases after him, and Technus says, "Wow. That's scary."

"I never imagine Skulker running off in fear." Danny said.

Dodging a plasma beam, Skulker stops in front of Danny and falls on his knees. "Please, whelp, just take me. I don't care. Fenton Thermos, ghost portal, anything, just get me away from that girl!" He turns and sees the girl catching up. Screaming, he continues running away. Danny says, "Now he's begging to get captured? This has got to be the weirdest day of my life."

The hunter stops again and grabs the thermos. He presses a couple of buttons, then points it at himself, getting sucked into it. Danny catches it as the other phantom lands next to him. "Scaredy cat."

"So, Technus," Danny starts. "Do you want to take the thermos way, or the simple way?"

The ghost looks at Dani, who gives him a warning eye. "I'll, uh, just go take the portal." He flies off as fast as he can, the robot falling to pieces. The phantoms smirk at his flee, and Danny turns to the other. "So you're a Phantom, too?"

"Yeah. I thought I was the only one here. Imagine my surprise when I saw you with the same style as me."

He chuckles a little, and says, "Well, it was nice meeting you." He raises a hand, and Dani shakes it. "You too. See ya." The ghost girl flies off, leaving Danny with his trapped friends. He runs to them and destroys the goo chains. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah Danny, but who was that?" Sam asked.

"She called herself Dani Phantom. Dani with an I."

"Really? Like your cousin?"

"Yeah, but she looks older and has an anger issue. Dani is not that mean, and by now she would be thirteen. This Dani looks about fourteen."

"Well, whoever she is, thanks to her, I've got some comedy gold." Tucker said.

"Comedy gold?"

"Yeah. Skulker running around screaming like a girl and begging to you." He laughs at the memory, and Sam and Danny chuckle. "Yeah, that was funny." He reverts back to human, and says, "Well, I should go find my sis."

"Danny!"

They turn and see Dani running toward them. "There she is." Sam said.

When she catches up, Danny asks, "So where did you go?"

"I just wanted to check the music store for any guitars."

"Oh." He checks his phone, and says, "We should really get back home."

"OK. See ya later, guys."

"Bye Dani." The two said. The Fenton's walk back to their house, Dani enjoying every minute with her new brother.


	4. Chapter 3: First Day of School

**I apologize for the mix up in chapters. This is the real chapter 3, if anyone reading this was confused.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: First Day of School**

_Dani crashes onto a wall, creating cracks around. She uses the wall to support her beaten body, and looks up to see the black ghost smiling. "Now you fall, Danielle, unless you want to join us."_

"_Never so long as I live." _

_The ghost's smile falls. "Then you leave me no choice. So goodbye to your life." He raises his sword, and thrusts it into Dani's stomach…_

Dani wakes up, still feeling the blade stabbing her. After returning her breath to its regular pace, she swings her legs around her bed, rubbing her face. "Will these dreams ever give me a break?" she asked herself. The teen gets up and heads for the bathroom, checking the time on the way. 6:30.

Dani groans at the time, and continues to the bathroom. After untangling her mess of a hair and brushing her teeth, she heads downstairs and gets her breakfast, as quiet as a mouse. She walks to the couch and turns on the TV, turning the volume down so others can sleep while she can still hear.

"Three days ago, a ghost attack has taken place near the park and, of course, our hero, Danny Phantom, has gone to the scene." the news reporter said. "But the ghosts have allied and fought against the ghost kid, beating him around." The TV shows Danny Phantom on the ground, a ghost wearing a labcoat and a robot one charging their weapons. "All thought it was lost for the ghost kid, when a mysterious phantom, who looks a lot like our famous hero, flies in and battles the ghosts." The picture switches to a phantom girl beating up the robot ghost senseless. "Who is this ghost girl? Is she a friend of Danny Phantom, or an enemy that wants to take care of him herself? Now let's head to the weather with-" the teen switches channels before she can finish. Dani sighs and puts her dishes in the sink. She was about to head back when she hears, "Dani?"

The teen turns and sees her mother walking downstairs. "What are you doing up this early?"

"I couldn't get any sleep." Dani said.

"Oh. It's not our ghost hunting style, is it?"

"No, don't worry. It's just…something from my past."

"Hmm. I was kinda expecting that. When something dramatic happens in your past, you sort of remember it, whether you want it or not. To tell you the truth, I still have nightmares of my college days."

"Really? What happened?" Dani asked.

"I'd rather not talk about it." The mother said. "So you're ready for school to start?"

Raising an eyebrow, the teen asks, "School?"

"Yeah. Summer vacation is over, and you'll be starting school in about two hours."

"But, I didn't get my supplies."

"Oh, don't worry. Your dad and I went to the store and got everything you'll need." Maddie takes out a bag and puts it on the table. "As well as some new clothes."

Dani smiles, and says, "Thanks mom."

"You're welcome, sweetie."

Hearing footsteps, the two turn their heads and see Danny walking into the kitchen. "Hey guys."

"Hi Danny." The girl said. Maddie asks her son, "So Danny, do you have everything for school ready?"

"Of course I have everything. You've been bugging me about it since two weeks ago."

"Okay, then. Hurry up and get ready. You don't want to be late on your first day. And don't forget to show Dani the school."

"Got it, mom."

She heads downstairs, and Dani walks back to her room with the bags of her stuff. After closing her door, she takes out the shirts and jeans, checking the fashion. "Wow. She did a really good job picking the shirts." Dani picks a shirt with a skull designed guitar on it with waves wrapping around it. She smiles and changes into her new clothes and shoes, then packs her papers and supplies in her new, black with purple swirls pack. Shouldering it, she grabs her skateboard and heads downstairs, waiting for her brother. After a while, he walks downstairs in his signature red and white shirt, blue jeans, and blue and white sneakers. "You ready sis?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Okay then, we just have to wait for Jazz to come."

"Danny, don't you have a license?" the girl teen asked.

"Yeah, but it's a permit. Which means I need a parent or guardian. Or a seventeen year old sister."

"So what's taking so long?"

"She's probably putting last minute make-up on or something."

"C'mon, Danny, I don't take _that_ long." The two Fenton's turn to see the red haired sister walking toward them, carrying her bag. "So Dani, what's with the skateboard?"

"I thought I could ride it to school." She answered.

"Then, where's your helmet?"

Dani laughs, and says, "C'mon, I've been ridin' a skateboard since I was ten. I've gotten pretty good not getting any concussions on my trips."

"Okay, your choice." She opens the door and they walk to Jazz's car. Dani sees that it is a 2010 black with white stripes Chevy Camaro. "Whoa-ho. Jazz, how did you get this?" Danny asked.

"I bought it with my savings. And my job."

"Oh, right." Jazz sits in the passenger seat and says, "So you ready for the life of the road?"

Hopping on the driver's seat, the ghost hybrid says, "You bet."

"You sure you don't want to come, Dani?"

"I'll be fine. I'll meet ya at the entrance."

"Okay, your choice." Danny buckles and puts the car on reverse. He drives it out of the garage and rides along the road, waving to Dani. After waving back, she starts running, then hops on her skateboard, riding along the walkway. After rolling across the street, she goes through an alley, jumping over some garbage, and finds herself at a bus stop. The teenagers watch her go, and she waves to them while crossing the road. Dani slides along a handrail and performs a three-sixty after jumping of a ramp. The crowd watches her go and a couple clap and whistle at her accomplishment. After a while, the teen sees the school ahead, and performs one last trick before knocking the board in the air and catching it. She leans against the rail and waits for the others to catch up. Soon, the chevy parks in the lot, and Danny and Jazz walk out. Danielle walks to her siblings and asks, "What took you so long?"

"Hey, unlike you, we have limits in a car." Danny said.

"What, you can't go a mile above the speed limit?"

Jazz says, "He tried that once, and we had to pay a ticket." She reaches in her purse and takes out an envelope. "I forgot to give this to you back at the house."

"What's this?" Dani asked, taking the package.

"It's your schedule, and a map of the school."

The teen girl opens the envelope and takes out two pieces of paper. "Great." She checks it over and sees her first class is PE. "So what class do you have first?"

"Mine are mostly AP classes, so we're probably won't see much of each other." Jazz said.

"I have History first. What about you?" asked Danny.

"Phys Ed."

"Okay. Word of advice, Ms. Tetslaff is really strict in physical and will think you're wimpy and weak, like she did on my first day."

Dani scoffs and says, "You may not have noticed, but I'm not that weak or wimpy."

"You are a little thin. She'll probably think you're a toothpick."

Dani looks at her brother for a while, then says, "Are you trying to make me smack you?"

"No. I was just telling you what Ms. Tetslaff will do. She does it to everyone."

Jazz pushes her brother a little and says, "She isn't that mean."

The hybrid looks at her sister, then the redhead says, "Okay, your right. She is that cruel in PE."

"Well, no matter how evil she is, she can't break me." The youngest said, smiling. The bell rings, and everyone starts heading to school. The Fenton's split up to their classes and Dani stops by her 314 locker. After putting her books and skateboard in, and heads to the gymnasium with her shorts. The teen heads to the girls' locker room and changes into the school's shirt and black shorts. She notices a fifteen year old, Hispanic girl with long, flowing black hair with a pink clip in it, a pink top that stops at the top of her waist, and blue skinny jeans. She is putting on some make-up, and Dani scoffs. _You don't need that much makeup for PE._

The girl spots Dani, and turns around. "What are you looking at?"

Dani notices that she has a faint Hispanic accent. "I was just wondering why you're putting on makeup in PE."

"What, you can't look good while working?"

"Considering what I have seen in the last minutes, I'm gonna guess you don't work out very much."

"Of course I work out. For your information, I take cheerleading for our games."

"Uh–huh. So is that what you're wearing here? Because that will get ruined after sweating a lot." Dani said.

"I will change; I just wanted to put my makeup on before. Why aren't you wearing any?"

"I'm not one to worry about that. I like how I am right now."

"Really? You know, if you put some lipstick and eyeliner on, and get a fashion statement, you could win a boy. I mean, just look at you. You look like that black haired nerd in a girl's body."

Anger boils a little after hearing this. "What black-haired nerd?" the teen asked in a dangerous tone.

"The boy that hangs around with the techno geek and the freaky Goth girl." the girl answered.

Dani walks to her and says, "For _your _information, he's my brother. So unless you want a black eye to mess up your face, then I suggest you don't talk to him that way."

"He's your brother? When did that happen?"

"That's none of your business." Dani starts to walk away, until the girl says, "You know, if you want to be popular, then I suggest you hang around with me. I can teach you everything there is to know."

"Yeah, when I want to be a shallow girl, I'll call you." She exits the room, leaving the girl steaming. When Dani walks back to the gym, she sees some other kids there. She walks to a spot and starts some stretches. After a while, the teen hears a whistle, and turns her head to see a large teacher with red hair and teal eyes, wearing a collar shirt and red shorts with black and white shoes. "Alright, class, before we get started, I want to check how you are all capable of."

She started calling off names for an obstacle course, and Dani was surprised to find how weak everyone is. They couldn't even get halfway through the course. When the teacher calls, "Danielle Fenton," she walks up and the teacher examines her. "I see that you have some meat on those bones, but let's see how they go in the course."

Dani gets ready for the course, and when Ms. Tetslaff blows her whistles, she runs into the first course: pull ups. After doing five, she flips around and continues the obstacles. After climbing the rope wall, Dani flips over and lands on a pole. She walks across it with great balance, then jumps off and runs to the next. Everyone's jaw drops at her strength and agility, and the Hispanic girl says, "Wow. She's good."

"If you ask me," said the blonde girl next to her. "She seems to have some quality we need."

"I know, but she's that nerd's sister, who is friends with the Goth girl with no fashion. I don't think she'll want to join."

"Well, let's just not take no for an answer."

After Dani takes a last back flip, she raises her hands in a finish, and Ms. Tetslaff says, "Well, I haven't seen anyone complete the course in record time, especially in style. Very good, Miss Fenton."

Dani walks back to the bleachers and grabs her water. After taking a drink, she sees the Hispanic and a blonde walking toward her. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say sorry about earlier. How about we try again? I'm Paulina and this is my friend, Star."

"Dani."

Star asks, "How come you look a lot like-" Paulina elbows her side, stopping her. "We were hoping if you wanted to join the cheerleading squad with us."

"Join cheerleading. With you? Let me think, no." She walks away, but the others catch up. "C'mon. After seeing your performance, we agreed that you would make a wonderful cheerleader. What's so wrong with that?"

"One, it makes you a jerk to everyone, and two, your there."

"Okay, I know I said your brother's a nerd, but we can just start over."

"Forget it, Paulina."

"But-"

"Paulina Sanchez."

When Ms. Tetslaff called the shallow girl, she walks down and tried to get out of the course. "Um, actually, Ms. Tetslaff, I was wondering if I can skip the obstacle course. You see, I don't want to ruin my flawless skin with open pores."

"Uh huh. Then send me the bill for your manicure when you're done with this. Now get going."

Dani chuckles as she watches Paulina struggle through the first test. After about five minutes, Ms. Tetslaff excused her in a disappointed tone, and the teen walks back to the bleachers. She and Star sit next to Dani and asks, "So, how was your life?"

The skater looks at her. "You really want to hear about my life?"

"Well, yeah. Fellow cheerleaders should know about each other."

"I thought I told you, I'm not joining the squad."

"But you have talent. I haven't seen anyone do a back flip that good on the first try."

"Yeah, and we can help you on your path to popularity." Star said.

"I may have _talent,_ but I would rather be unnoticed and have friends who like me for who I am than noticed and have friends who think I'm just cute."

"Well, with a little makeup and a better fashion, we _can_ make you even cuter."

Dani groans and says, "I'm not joining your cheerleading and there is nothing you can do to change my mind."

They hear a whistle, and everyone looks at the teacher. "Okay, class is almost up so get back in your lockers and change. Wouldn't want ya to be late for your next class."

The teen quickly walks back to the locker room and changes. While waiting for the bell, she spots Paulina and Star talking, every once in a while looking at her. _Great. They're probably trying to figure out how to get me on the squad. As if._

They hear the bell, and Dani rushes out and to her next class. Unfortunately, the girls catch up to her. "So, Dani, where are you going?" Paulina asked.

"Uhh, science?"

"Really? I have that too."

_Oh great._"Is there a class you don't have with me?"

"Well, I have history next than Math."

"Oh, I am sorry, but I have Band next than English." Dani said with a sarcastic tone in her voice. Unfortunately, Paulina didn't see it. "That's alright. Maybe we can hang out more in lunch."

_Is there any way I can lose them?_ Then, Dani gets an idea. "Hey, why don't you gals go on without me? I need to get something from my locker."

"Are you sure?" Star asked.

"Yes. I'll be alright." She quickly walks away before they can say anything else, sighing. "Finally. Lost them." Dani slows down as she gets to her locker, and was about to open it when she heard a crash. The teen walks around a corner and sees a crowd gathering around her brother and a guy with blonde hair, tan skin, built, and dull blue eyes, and is wearing a leather jacket with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans, and white sneakers. He picks up Danny and shoves him against of locker. "You will pay for the D I got in History, Fenturd!" The boy raises a fist when Dani yells, "Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

He stops and looks around. "Okay, who said th-" Suddenly, he feels a sharp pain on his cheek, and he walks back, dropping Danny. After shaking off the sting, he says, "Okay, who did that?" The guy looks up and sees a hot girl holding a fist. He raises an eyebrow, then smiles. Walking back, he says, "Now why would a hot girl like you be standing up to Fenturd here?"

"Save it, jerk. I'm not buying it. Now get out of here before I make you."

"Ah, feisty." He leans against a wall, next to Dani. She looks past him and sees Sam helping Danny up. The boy says, "In case you were wondering, the name's Dash Baxter. I was wondering if I can have your number, if you have one."

"Is he hitting on my sister?" Danny asked Sam.

"I think he is. Would that be a eww, or a yikes?"

"I think that would be a little of both."

Dani crosses her arms and says, "I said save it, Dash. What I want is for you to get your butt out of here and leave my brother alone."

Dash jumps back, surprised. "Fenturd's your brother?"

"Yeah."

The jock rubs his head, then says, "Okay. But you're still cute. If you join cheerleading then maybe we could-" He gets punched in the nose, again, by Dani. "Don't even finish that sentence!"

After checking his nose, Dash scowls, and says, "You know, you are starting to get on my last nerve with this."

"Then why don't you beat it before I make you?"

The jock walks up and grabs her shirt, lifting her in the air. "Maybe I should find myself some new bait."

Dani laughs. "You do not want to make me as bait."

"Why not?" he asked. The teen girl knees him on the chest, and he drops her, clutching his lungs. Dani punches him twice on the face, then spins and trips the bully. He falls on his back painfully, but gets up, wiping some blood out of his mouth. "That's it. You are dead meat!" He gets up and runs toward Dani, but she ducks and walks back down the hall. "Sorry I can't stay, but I need to get to class. Ta ta." She runs away, and Dash sprints to the hall she vanished to. After turning the corner, Dash finds the hall empty. His eyes widen at the scene, not believing she could disappear. Danny walks to him, also looking for his sister. Dash grabs him, saying, "You're in luck, Fenturd. I'm not gonna be picking on you anymore."

"Uhh, great." he said shakily.

"Instead, I'll be beating up your sister instead." Dash drops him, then walks away. Danny walks away, Sam catching up. "Man, your sister really got him angry."

"Yeah, but what I want to know is how she quickly vanished in the hall."

* * *

Paulina watches the door, wondering where Dani is. Then, the teen enters, and she takes a seat near the window. After checking the time, Paulina grabs her stuff and sits next to Dani. She looks across and quietly groans. "Now what do you want?"

"I still want to know about your life. Please?"

"Look, it's not a happy life, okay? I lost some relatives during my time and just trying to be normal."

The bell rings, and everyone finds a seat. The teacher walks in, and says, "Okay, class, my name is Mrs. Belok. I hope you picked right, because this will be your seats until next quarter."

_What! _Dani slams her head on the counter, but Paulina beams. "That's so great. We get to be partners."

"Whoop-di do." She said gloomily.

The class goes on, the teacher telling everyone about the rules and tools in the science class. To Dani, it felt longer than an hour, especially with Paulina talking and talking quietly. Finally, the class ends, and the teen rushes out before Paulina could grab her stuff.

She gets some lunch in the cafeteria and walks with her brother and friends. They sit at their regular and start talking and eating. When she spots the popular girl enter the room, Dani quickly hides behind her brother. She checks if she's gone, then comes out of hiding. Danny asks, "So Dani, back in the halls, how did you vanish in that hallway?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you were running from Dash, we looked down a hallway you went, and you seem to just disappear in thin air."

"Oh. I just walked into a hallway, simple as that."

"Uh huh." Danny doesn't believe it, but he didn't ask any more questions. When lunch is over, Dani walks toward Band, lost in her head. She doesn't see someone walk into her until it's too late. They both fall down, and the teen says, "Geez, watch where your-"Dani stops when she sees the boy. He has bright green eyes full of intelligence and chocolate brown, messy hair, tan, and a friendly face. "Oh. I'm sorry about that."

"No, that's okay." he says, getting up. "I should've paid more attention."

Dani blushes a little, getting up. "I'm Dani. Dani Fenton."

"Jake Stellen."

The girl brushes some hair out of her left eye. "I haven't seen you here." _C'mon, that was stupid._

"Yeah well, I walk from one end to the other, and you get pretty tired, so I always look for shortcuts. I found a couple pretty fast."

She chuckles a little, and says, "So, uh, what class do you have next?" _Come on, Dani, you can do better than that._

I have science next. What about you?"

"Band."

"Really. What do you play, out of curiosity?"

"The guitar."

"Sweet. I better get going." Jake walks down the hall, and turns back. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you, too." Dani said as he walks away. She continues to her class, feeling slightly light, and takes out her guitar and plugs it in the amplifier. She strums a few notes, tuning it, and she gets done just as the bell rings. The teacher separates everyone into their instrument group, the soft, high-pitch musicals in the front, the loud, brass group in the middle, and the percussion in the back. Dani stands in the back, and the teacher tests everyone. It takes the whole class period, and faster than Dani would like, she hears the bell and walks to her last class for today.

When the school ends, the teen heads to her locker and packs the stuff in it. When she closes it, she jumps as Paulina suddenly appears in front of the locker door. "Hi Dani."

"Hey, Paulina." Dani said, annoyed. She walks away, but the girl follows. "So, did you think about cheerleading?"

"Oh my-what did I tell you?"

"Come on. You are really good. Why can't you just say yes?"

"Because I never thought of cheerleading. I never did and I never will."

Paulina continues trying to persuade her by talking about all the good things about cheerleading, really annoying Dani. After a while, Dani turns and snaps, "Alright!"

Paulina stops, surprised at the sudden outburst. The teen asks, "If I try out on your cheerleading squad, will you leave me alone?"

Smiling, she says, "Yes!" the popular teen takes out a piece of paper and hands it to Dani. "Tryouts start next week. I hope to see you there." Paulina walks away, and Dani takes a closer look at the paper, which is a brochure. After looking through it, she pockets it and walks out the doors, and rides her board back to her house. _I hope I did not make a mistake._

Riding down a sidewalk and through alleys, she stops and flips her board into her hand, and walks into her home. She finds no one here yet, she Dani grabs some food and throws the brochure on the table. The teen grabs a soda and drinks it, when Jazz walks in. "Hi Dani."

"Hey Jazz. Where's Danny?"

"He's with his friends." She answered, dropping her bag on the couch. The oldest walks to the kitchen and finds the brochure. "What's this?" Jazz asked, picking it up.

"Just some brochure." Dani takes another sip of soda as her sister looks through the pamphlet. "Cheerleading, huh?"

"Yeah, but I never wanted to join. Paulina kept bugging me about it until I said I'll try out."

Jazz smiles, then asks, "So when are the tryouts?"

"Next week."

"Well then, I can't wait to see you in the squad."

Surprised, the girl spits out her soda on the table, and says, "What?"

"Yes. You're going to the tryouts." She starts to walk away

Dani gets up and walks after her sister, whining, "Jazz, do I have to?"

Jazz stops and turns. "Extracurricular is a good thing to try. I'm just glad that you are taking one. Danny didn't."

"Yeah, but _cheerleading_? C'mon. Can't I just do something different?"

"Dani, I'm taking you there whether you like it or not. Who knows, you may like it." The teen heads upstairs.

"I doubt it." Dani shouts to her. She slams her arm on the wall, leaning against it. "I should've ripped that paper." She walks back to the kitchen and cleans her mess.


	5. Chapter 4: Ghost Attack

**Chapter 4: Ghost Attack**

A week passes by with no interesting events. Dani went to her classes, like any other students, working on homework and trying to make friends. One day, she walks through a hallway, and Dash grabs her shoulder. "Well, look who I found today."

"Dash, let me go, or you will find yourself eating tile." Dani threatened.

"Yeah right. What can you do?" He pushes her onto a locker, banging her head. He laughs as Dani rubs her head, then she punches him away. Shocked, Dash rubs his jaw, then growls, "That's it." He rushes, but the teen ducks under his arm and was about to punch him again when a fist flies and nails her in the mouth. She clutches it in pain, and the jock grabs her shoulder and pushes her down. "Now who's eating tile?"

Dani growls and gets up on her feet, a trickle of blood running down her chin. She quickly turns and knocks Dash away, then kicking him in the chest. She was about to pound him again when she hears, "Dani, that's enough."

She stops, and turns her head to see her brother standing there, arms crossed. Dani sighs out her frustrations, and unclenches her fist. Dash gets up and says, "This ain't over," then walks away. Dani wipes the blood off her chin, and her brother walks to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I went through worse than this." Dani answered.

"Okay, but try not to get over your head with Dash. He's not afraid to knock you out." Danny walks to his class, leaving Dani in the hall. _It's not my fault Dash is such a jerk. _She heads for her class, checking her lip.

The rest of the day was normal to Dani, going to classes, doing work, dodging Dash. While she was walking through the hallways, thinking of later today, she doesn't see Jake, again, and she runs into him. This time, Jake catches her in time. "Whoa. We have got to stop meeting like this, Dani."

She chuckles a little. "Yeah, but I keep having my head in the clouds."

"I noticed. So what are you up to?"

"Well, after school, I was going to go to cheerleading tryouts, believe or not."

"Cheerleading? Uh, no offence, but you don't look like a cheerleader girl."

"Thank you. Everyone else seems to be trying to get me to try, no matter how much I try to avoid it."

"Oh. Well, I hope you make it, or not make it. I'll see ya later." He walks away, and Dani was about to when an idea floats in her head. Turning around, she yells, "Jake!"

He stops and turns back to Dani, who asks, "I was wondering if…you wanted to hang out at…the Nasty Burger…after the tryouts?"

This caught Jake by surprise, but he says, "Sure. I'll be there." He continues his walk, and Dani smiles, soft warmth spreading across her body. After a while, she walks to her class again, feeling the happiest ever today.

* * *

After entering her house, the teen walks to her bed and tosses her bag against a wall, then crashes onto her bed, feeling tired. After a while, she dozes off to dreamland, which started out pleasant, but soon darkness envelops the town, dark clouds swirling in the ink-black sky. Dani looks around the place, trying to find someone friendly in the dark, but she faces something out of a nightmare the devil couldn't imagine. Standing tall over her is the black armored ghost, smiling wickedly. "Well well. Somehow you survived my other attempts, but this one, you will not evade." He grabs her head and throws her onto a building, cracking it. She looks up, stinging pain shooting through her back. The ghost floats toward her, still grinning. "Nothing will keep me from my mission." He raises his sword, and Dani closes her eyes for the inevitable. When the ghost swipes his sword, the girl finds herself in cold blackness, then starts falling toward nowhere, hope slowly diminishing inside her. As she falls, something brightens, and Dani covers her eyes from the brightening light. She takes a closer look, and sees a black blade in the center of the light.

_You have a destiny, young one. And soon, you shall face power greater than you could ever imagine._

"Dani…Dani, wake up…Dani!"

She shrieks awake, almost knocking Jazz. Dani breathes hard, and Jazz asks, "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a nightmare come alive."

"Yeah, I'm fine." She breathed.

"Are you sure? You don't look alright."

"I'm fine, Jazz." Dani turns around and sits on her bed. "What is it that you need?"

"I was wondering if you're ready for the tryouts." she said.

"What? Oh, right." The teen said, remembering the cheerleading tryouts. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Good, because we're leaving in a few minutes. You should get ready." Jazz leaves the room, and Dani walks to her closet, looking for some sweats to wear. She finds some black sweat jeans, and a light shirt with flowers shaping into a heart on her right chest. After changing, the teen walks downstairs where her mom is working on a small machine. "See ya later, mom."

"Bye, honey. Have fun on your tryouts."

Dani walks out to the garage and finds her sister waiting in her car. She hops into the passenger seat, and the oldest backs out of the garage, then drives to the school grounds. While driving, Jazz asks, "So, are you nervous?"

"About the tryouts? No. I am _very humiliated_." Dani said, looking at the scenery passing.

"Why?"

"I've been trying to dodge cheerleading for my life. That's why."

"Why?"

"Because cheerleaders are nothing but selfish, conceited, good-for-nothing-"

"Dani!"

"What?"

"Not all cheerleaders are like that."

"Oh yeah? Name one."

"Dani Fenton."

She looks at her with an annoyed look. "Really? You're going with that excuse?"

"Well, it's true."

The teen groans and returns to the scenery. Jazz shakes her head and says, "Dani, just…promise me that you'll do your best at the tryouts."

Dani hesitates to answer, then finally says, "Alright."

The oldest relaxes a little, and parks at the school lot. They get out and walk to the football field, where Dani sees other tryouters and their parents, as well as Paulina and other cheerleaders. The teen turns to her sister and asks, "Is it too late to go home?"

"Yes. Now get out there and do your best. I'll be on the bleachers."

Dani sighs as her sister walks up the bleachers, and she heads to the judges' table. "Hey Paulina."

She turns, sees the teen, and brightens. "Dani, you made it!" She gets up and hugs her, saying, "I was starting to get worried."

"Okay, I get it. Now could you please let go of me?"

She does and says, "Okay, the line starts over there and your turn should be up soon. I can't wait to see you perform."

Dani walks to the line and sits down next to another girl. She turns and asks, "Forced here too?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Same. Though, unlike the other girls, I'm gonna stink. You gonna to do the same?"

"I wish. But I promised my sister I'll do my best."

"Ooooh. Bad move. I feel bad for ya."

Paulina calls, "Kristine Maller."

The girl gets up and walks to the judges. She picks up the pom-poms and, true to her word, does a poor job of cheerleading. After a minute, Paulina stops her and tells her maybe next time. Kristine walks to her parents and they walk away, and Dani sees her congrat herself. _Great. I'm probably next."_

"Dani Fenton."

She sighs as she gets up, and walks to the judges. Dani picks up the pom-poms and looks over to Jazz. She smiles and waves her to go on. Paulina says, "Okay Dani, let's see what you've got."

Pursing her lips, she starts a routine of her own, flipping and twirling. The judges watch her carefully, slowly growing impressed. For her finale, Dani does a backflip and ends with the splits, the pom-poms raised, breathing hard. She finds the judges open mouthed, and Dani gets on her legs. "Well?" she asked, a little nervous. _Please say I stunk, although I highly doubt that._

They lean towards each other, whispering. After a while, they agree on something, and Paulina gets up. "Well Dani, in all our cheerleading years at Casper High, we have never seen anything like you."

"So, I stunk?" she asked, trying to have a sad face, hoping she's right.

"Stunk? Are you kidding?" She walks to her and says, "You made it to the squad. Congratulations!" Paulina hugs her again, and Dani says, "Yay." in a fake, happy tone, her insides crying. After Paulina lets go, she hands Dani some papers and says, "Okay, practice starts next week, and a meeting is tomorrow. You'll get your costume and equipment the same day. And I just wanted to say, we are so glad that you'll be on our squad." After hugging her again, she says, "I hope you have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Great." Dani said and she walks to Jazz. She also says in a lower, gloomier tone. "Just great."

Her sister walks down and hugs her. "Nice job Dani."

"Yeah, now could you let go?" she said, pushing Jazz away. "I've had enough hugging for today."

"Dani, I have never seen anything like that. Why did you want to keep that secret?"

"Because I told you. Cheerleaders are rude girls that don't think of anyone but themselves. And I knew that if they saw me, they would try to make me join their squad."

"Okay then. We should get going." As they walk back to the car, Jazz asks, "So when are practices?"

"Next week, but there's a meeting tomorrow."

"Okay." As they drive back home, Jazz tries to start a conservation, but Dani stays as silent as a grave. After parking in the Fenton Work's garage, the teen hops out and heads to her room, avoiding her parents. After entering her room, she changes into some regular clothes, and hurries out. Before heading downstairs, someone asks, "Are you late for something?"

The teen turns and sees Danny leaning against the wall. "Danny. Uh, no."

"Really? You look like you're in a hurry."

"Of course not. Why would I be?" Before he can say anything else, Dani walks downstairs, and out the door back into the city. She walks through the town, heading for the restaurant where she'll be meeting someone. She walks past a store, and stops to look at something. A guitar is on display, the body in the shape of a wavy X, with orange and red flames coming from the top left down. The headstock burst up into flames, matching the body, and the whole guitar is black. "Whoa." Dani turns her head and sees another guitar on display. The body is in a shape of a D and a P in the middle, with tails at the end, a dark green ghost twirling around the body and up the stem, floating up to becoming the headstock. She smiles at the design, and tries to guess what the DP stands for. With nothing in mind, Dani resumes her travel, looking at all the stores, until the Nasty Burger appears in view. After crossing the unusually clear road, she enters the restaurant and looks around. Dani doesn't find the person, so she walks to a table and sits. The teen takes out a book and goes to the chapter she stopped at. After about three pages, she hears the doors ope, and looks up to see Jake walking toward her. The teen puts her book away as Jake sits down across from her. "Hey Dani."

"Hi Jake."

"So how did tryouts go?"

"Well, they said that I made it to the squad."

"But, didn't you say you didn't want to be a cheerleader?"

"I did, but my sister made me promise that I would do my best, and they say that my best is off the charts."

"Oh. I guess I'll see you at cheerleading on the first game."

"You watching?"

"No. I'm playing."

She widens her eyes and asks, "You tried out for football?"

"Yeah well, I always like football. I have six trophies back at my house, all first places." he said proudly. "Anyway, you want something?"

"Yeah, thanks." Jake gets up and walks to the clerk and orders a meal. The clerk hand him his number, and he walks back to the table. "So I hear that you play the electric guitar."

"Yeah, and I got pretty good at it. And some people say I have a singing voice of angels."

"A voice…of angels?" he asked, not believing it. "Considering how you faced against Dash, I would have never have thought of it."

The teen twiddles her thumbs and says, "You saw that?"

"Yeah, and I think that was awesome. Not many people can stand up to Dash like that."

Grinning, she says, "Thanks."

"Order 12." Jake gets up and heads to the counter, picking up the food. He walks back and hands Dani hers and the two start eating. After she swallows, she asks, "So how long have you been here?"

"I've been here my whole life. My mom's a surgeon at the new North Mercy Hospital and my dad's a doctor there, too."

"New North Mercy?"

"Yeah. The old one is abandoned. One day, when I was eleven, I went to the hospital and the sign on the fence read 'No Mercy'."

The two laughs at the joke, and when Jake stops, he sees Dani worried. "Is there something wrong Dani?"

"No, everything's fine. Could you excuse me?" She gets up and runs to the restrooms, leaving Jake confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

He hears some explosions, and looks up to see the ceiling falling. He jumps out of the way, grabbing the meal, when portions of the ceiling destroys the table. On top of the pieces is a ghost girl wearing black and white, two-piece suit, and she gets up, rubbing her head. Jake looks up into the sky and sees a robot ghost floating, a triumphant grin on his face. He aims his gun on his arm and fires a green ray, but the girl back flips away from the beam, and flies up. She punches him back through the opening, creating a dent in his armor. "What are you doing here, robot man?"

"My name is Skulker, you whelp." The ghost said.

"Isn't that the other ghost's nickname?" she points out.

Charging a net launcher, Skulker says, "I call all my prey whelps. Including ghosts like you." He fires, and the blue glowing net wraps around the teen. "Hey!"

"Not so tough now when you don't have the element of surprise."

"Oh, I don't need the element of surprise." Dani Phantom said. The net starts to glow green, and the teen breaks through it, firing a plasma beam. It hits the hunter dead center, sending him flying back. Soon, he crashes into a building and falls on a crate full of books. Pushing the books away, he says, "Man, girl's got some pow."

He gets up to his feet, rubbing his flaming head. Skulker looks up and is punched away. Colliding into a shelf, wood splinters, and the hunter looks up to see Dani hovering above him. "I suggest you scram back to your little hole you call home, before I make you."

"Well, let me tell you something, _Phantom_, I don't go back until I get my prey, or is forced."

"You mean like this?" The two ghosts turn to see Danny Phantom floating, thermos in hand. "See ya later." He points the trap at Skulker and blue energy shoots out, sucks him inside, and the ghost boy closes the lid. "I fly after Skulker to put him back in the Ghost Zone, and find you already beating him like a punching bag."

"Yeah well, it makes things more interesting. See ya later." The ghost flies away, and Danny heads back to his house where the Ghost Portal is.

* * *

Jake looks around, trying to find the battle, and behind him someone says, "Looking for something, Jake?"

He twists around and sees Dani. "Hey Dani. Where'd you go?"

"I just went to the restrooms. That's all."

"So…you didn't see that ghost battle?"

"Uh, no. No I didn't."

"Well, it was some battle. This ghost girl crashed through the ceiling-"

"So that's where the hole came from." Dani said.

"Yeah, and this girl has snow white hair, and her suit was a black and white color theme and she was fighting against this robot ghost with gadgets all over him."

"Sounds like an awesome battle."

"Yeah, it was wicked. The best thing I have ever seen. Besides the other fights with Danny Phantom."

"Danny Phantom. The hero of Amity Park?"

"To some, but other think he is the villain here."

"Then they have to get out more."

"Yeah, that's for sure. You uh, want to walk home?"

"Sure." They walk to the houses, talking more about their life. Dani learns that Jake can play the piano and electric, sometimes can get a little overconfident, which leads to some injuries, and wants to own a motorcycle. After a while, they walk up the steps of Fenton Works, and Dani says, "Today was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Well, I'll see ya later Dani."

"See ya later Jake." She walks into her house, closing the door behind her. She leans against it, sighing. _Made a new friend in less than two weeks. I wonder if that's a record._

The new cheerleader drops her bag on the couch and heads into the kitchen. She was about to take a piece of chocolate fudge out when someone behind her asks, "How was your day?"

Dani quickly twists and sees her brother sitting by the table. "Would you stop doing that?"

"What? It's my joy to spook siblings like that. It used to work for Jazz, but she got more observant."

"Then I hope to repay. Meanwhile, I'll take a little snack and go right to bed."

"Why are you going to bed? It's not even seven."

After grabbing a piece of fudge, Dani says, "Because I want to get rid of some nightmares."

"You better put that fudge away. Dad is like a bloodhound when it comes to someone eating his fudge."

"Watch me." She puts the piece in her mouth, and Jack yells from the lab, "Hey, did someone get into my fudge?"

The teen widens her eyes and runs to her room, Danny chuckling. "I tried to warn her."


	6. Chapter 5: New Powers

Thank you, VampireDiablo.

And Dani will meet the Box Ghost in this chapter

* * *

Chapter 5: New Powers

At Sam's house, Danny met Sam and Tucker at the door. Sam asks Danny, "Hey, Danny. How're you feeling?"

"Better, now. Have any of you seen Dani?"

"Here she comes now." said Tucker, pointing at Dani. Danny turns and sees her walking towards them, but something's wrong. Dani is wearing a black coat with a skull hood, in the day, at 90 degrees.

"Hi, Dani. Are you okay?" asked Danny.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you ask?" said Dani.

Danny says, "Well, you're wearing a coat when it's like, 90 degrees out, and you're shivering."

"Relax. I'm fine. Just a little cold." said Dani.

"Okay. Now let's watch the new Zombie Teacher V." Danny said.

"Danny, for some reason, I'm seeing déjà vu." said Sam.

Suddenly, the Fenton's ghost sense appeared. The ghost hybrids changes into their Phantom form and hears, "Beware!"

They turn to see the Box Ghost. Danny says, "Ah, great. Him again."

"I am the Box Ghost, and I will destroy you, with my cardboard box of Doom!" said the Box Ghost, holding a closed cardboard box. He looks at the Ghost boy, and sees the girl ghost floating next to him. "Um, who are you?"

Dani says, "I'm Dani Ph-Ph-Ph-Phantom."

"Well Dani Ph-Ph-Ph-Phantom, I will-wait, there's two?" asked the Box Ghost confusingly.

"Yep. There's two Phantoms." said Danny.

The Box Ghost looks a little scared, but then turns serious again. "Two or two hundred, I will still destroy you with my-"before the Box Ghost could finish, he gets sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

"He never learns." said Danny as he closes the thermos.

"Is he always that annoying." Said Dani, shivering.

"Oh, you have no idea." said Danny. "Now, let's get back to our movie"

They were about to enter the house, when the ground starts trembling. Cracks started forming, where flowers are growing. Then, the two Fenton's ghost sense came.

"Oh no. Not again." said Danny in horror.

"What's happening again?" asked Dani.

Suddenly, a large plant grows high in the air, and opens to reveal a purple brain with eyes. Then, vines grow from the brain, trailing down the stem, followed by bushes growing up to cover everything. Danny and the others look at the tall bush fearfully, getting ready to battle what's inside. The bush explodes, and a tall pant with vines everywhere, and two thick vines, covered with thorns, going across his chest. He's green all over and a head of an eagle, except it's made out of vegetation, with thorns running from his head down.

"Undergrowth." said Danny.

Dani looks confused at this. "Who?"

"He's a ghost made out of vegetation. Apparently, he's still mad at mankind for killing his plants." said Sam.

"Yeah, well he's going back to where he came from." said Dani, flying towards Undergrowth.

"Dani, wait!" said Danny.

Undergrowth snarls to everyone blow, "Flesh dwellers, I have returned, and I will turn the earth into a jungle, and Danny Phantom cannot stop me!"

"Hey, overgrown plant! I suggest you get lost before I beat you back into the Ghost Zone!" Undergrowth looks down. He sees a girl flying up to him. "Who are you, Human?" demanded Undergrowth.

"My name is Dani Phantom." said Dani.

Undergrowth looks at her, confused. "Danny Phantom? You don't look like the ghost brat."

"Yeah, because she's new here." said Danny flying up to Dani.

Undergrowth smiles and says, "Well, there is the little ghost brat. You think you can defeat me?"

"Of course. I'll just pound you like I did before." said Danny charging up his ice power. He shot at Undergrowth, but a wall made out of plants took the hit and froze. Undergrowth smiled and threw a big seed onto the ground. It quickly grew and forms into a brain-like plant with vines. The vines went after the people, hypnotizing them.

"Oh no, the mind plant." Said Danny.

"Yes. It is time to destroy civilizations and grow my offspring's." said Undergrowth.

Danny looks at Sam, and was about to tell her to run, when Undergrowth said, "Oh, don't worry, ghost child. I will not be getting the Goth girl."

"What do you mean?" asked Danny. Dani saw a vine sneak behind Danny, and yelled, "Danny, l-l-l-look out!"

Danny turns around, but it's too late. The vine connects on Danny's neck. Danny screams and falls to the ground.

"Danny!" screamed Dani. She floats to the ground and sees Danny fighting the vine. He says, "Dani, get Sam and Tucker and fly into the Ghost Zone. Find the Realm of the Far Frozen and look for Frostbite!"

"But-"

Do it, Now!" said Danny, before the vine took control. Dani sees that his eyes are chlorophyll green. "Danny?" said Dani, But the ghost boy fires ecto-energy at Dani. Dani dodges it and flies towards Sam and Tucker. She sees a vine slithering to Tucker, and yells, "Tucker!" Sam saw the vine, but before she can do anything, the vine took control of him. A vine crawls to Sam, but Dani grabs her before it took control.

In the air, Sam asks, "What did Danny say before Undergrowth got him?"

"He said, to f-f-find the Realm of the F-Far Frozen and l-l-look for Frostbite."

"I know where that is. I can show you." said Sam.

"Th-that's great." Said Dani. Then she said, "S-s-so c-c-cold."

"Dani?" said Sam. "Are you all right?" suddenly, they're falling down. They crash onto the ground, and Sam looks at Dani and notices frost on her hair.

"Dani, wake up. We have to keep moving." said Sam. Dani groans and gets up.

"W-which way to the G-Ghost Zone?" asked Dani.

"That way. Come on, we have go before-"the ground opens and Undergrowth's head pops out. "There's no escape, Ghost girl." He fired thorns, but Dani turns her and Sam intangible, and runs through Undergrowth.

They turn a corner and sees the Op Center on top of a building.

"C'mon Dani. We're almost there." said Sam. Dani nods and they both run to the building.

Dani hears slithering and turns around to see vines chasing them. "Faster!"

Dani grabs Sam and turns intangible. They fly through the door and down the floor into the lab. They land on the floor, and Dani faints.

"Dani? Dani, wake up." said Sam.

"S-s-s-so c-c-cold." was all Dani could say.

Sam turns around and sees the vines still chasing them. Sam looks around and spots a jetpack. She puts it on and picks up Dani. The vines are closing in, and Sam turns on the jetpack, and flies into the Ghost Zone. Sam twists around to see the vines covering up the Ghost Portal. She flies off to their destination, and notices more frost growing on the ghost hybrid.

"Hang on, Dani" Said Sam as she flew around the Ghost Zone. Sam keeps flying until she sees the familiar snow island with its ice rings. She dashes to the land and searches for the villagers, and finds the guards blocking the entranceway. Sam flies to it, but is stopped by the guards. "Halt. Who are you?"

"Sam Manson, friend of Danny phantom." said Sam, quickly.

One of the guards says "What is your-"

"I don't have time for this!" yelled Sam. "I have a friend who needs help!"

The abominable guards look at each other, and let Sam pass. She flies off fast, looking for the leader. She finds him and dashes toward him. "Frostbite!"

Frostbite turns and sees Sam flying towards him. "Ah, friend of the Great One. What brings you here?"

Sam lands next to the leader and says, "I have a friend who needs help."

Frostbite sees Dani Phantom in Sam's arms. He takes her and says, "We should head to the medical center." They both run to a cave which is the medical center.

* * *

Dani wakes up to find herself floating inside a container. "Huh?"

"Well, good morning."

Dani turns and sees a white fur beast. "Who are you?" asked Dani, a little scared.

"My name is Frostbite, leader of the Far Frozen." said Frostbite.

"Frostbite." whispered Dani. Then, she asks, "Do you know Danny phantom?"

"Yes, I do. Here, he's known as the savior of the Ghost Zone."

"The savior of the Ghost Zone?" questioned Dani.

"Yes." said Frostbite.

Dani asks, "Uh, Frostbite? Can I get out of this container?"

"Sure."Frostbite said. He went over to a control board and presses a button, opening the container Dani is in. Dani walks over to Frostbite, and Frostbite puts a metal bracelet on her wrist.

Confused, Dani asks, "What's this?"

"It neutralizes the power that is building up inside of you." said Frostbite.

"Huh?"

"All we be explained. But first, tell me what is happening." said Frostbite.

"Okay, but you may not like it. Where's Sam?" asked Dani.

"She is over there." Frostbite said, pointing outside, where Sam is talking to a couple of Yeti-beast. Sam turns and sees Dani. She says bye to the beast, and runs to meet them.

"Hi, Dani. Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Sam smiled. She asks, "You ready to explain the situation we're in?"

Dani loks at the friendly beast and says, "Yeah."

Dani starts explaining what's happening. "We were having a normal day, when an earthquake started. Plants started growing, and a huge one started growing. Then Undergrowth appears and started controlling everybody."

"Yes." said Frostbite. "The great one and his friends have faced him before. It should not have been hard to defeat him. Unless of course he got under Undergrowth's control." Frostbite laughs at his little joke. He stops when he notices Dani frown.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Problem is your right." said Dani, gloomily.

"Oh no. Then we have no chance to defeat Undergrowth." said Frostbite.

"Hold on, Frostbite. We may still have a chance." said Sam.

Frostbite and Dani look at Sam, confused. "What do you mean, Sam?" said Dani.

"Remember how you were cold?" said Sam.

"Yeah. I couldn't think straight because of it." said Dani.

"Well, Danny went through the same thing."

"He did?"

"Yes. I taught him how to control the power." said Frostbite.

"That's right, and he can teach you to." Sam said.

Dani says, "But, how can I have the power?"

"Because," Frostbite walks to a moniter that has Dani Phantom on it with a blue light in the middle. "your body is radiating extreme cold. It has been growing ever since you got your ghost powers Of course; you have only been letting it out in small amounts."

"When?" asked Dani.

"Whenever a ghost was nearby."

"My ghost sense?"

"Yes. The power has been building until you can feel it."

Dani looks at the bracelet on her wrist. "So, this thing keeps the power at a safe level."

"Yes. We can start your training when you feel like it." said Frostbite. "If you don't want to train, then you can keep the neutralizer on."

"I want to learn this new power. It's probably the only way to beat Undergrowth." said Dani.

"Then let us get started." said Frostbite.

* * *

The girl hybrid looks around in the arena. "Why is everyone here?"

Frostbite laughs and says, "It's not every day that their leader teaches someone has famous, or their sister."

"They're hoping I'll m-m-mess up." Dani took off the bracelet before entering the arena.

"Yes. Remember, we live in a wasteland. We get our humor when we can." said Frostbite."Now, lesson one, stop shivering."

Dani stutters, "H-h-how?"

"Just let the energy to build until it has nowhere to go except out."

"Okay." Dani started to build the energy, until she let it all out. She falls down at the sudden warmth."Cool, it worked. Thanks, Frostb-" she looks at Frostbite, who is frozen with two thumbs up.

"Uh, can I have some hot cocoa?"

After they unfroze Frostbite, They continued their training. Some Far Frozen' brought out some targets, and Frostbite shot icicles out of his hands, all a bull's-eye. Dani concentrated, and shot out her icicles. Most hit the target, way off the middle, but some went to the arena walls, almost shooting the crowd. "Well, you are doing a little better than the great one." said Frostbite.

Next, a machine shot clay pigeons up in the air. Frostbite's eyes glows blue, and shoots an ice ray, freezing the pigeon. Another pigeon flies, and Dani gets ready with her ray. The pigeon flies off, and Dani shoots her ice ray at it. The ray misses, and hits a passing ghost instead. "Oops."

After a couple more hours of training, Dani is standing by Frostbite, getting ready to leave. Sam is standing by the ghost girl with the jetpack on.

"Thank you, Frostbite." said Dani.

"You are welcome, friend of the great one." said Frostbite.

"Just call me Dani."

"So, you ready to take on Undergrowth?" asked Sam.

Dani looks uncertain to answer. "What if I can't defeat him?" Dani looks at Frostbite. "Do you think I can live with you?"

"Don't worry, Dani Phantom." said Frostbite. "Fear is natural. It's going to battle **despite **the fear is what makes someone a hero. Besides, you have an icy advantage."

Dani looks at her hands, which are glowing blue.

"Now go, Dani Phantom. Defeat Undergrowth and save the great one." said Frostbite.

Dani shakes Frostbite's hand and says, "Thanks."

Dani and Sam flies off to the ghost portal. They soar through the Ghost Zone, until they hear someone yelling, "Dani!"

The two girls turn to see Ember flying towards them.

"Hey, Ember!" said Dani. Then sam gets in front of her, and points her wrist ray at Ember.

"Back off, Ember."

Ember stops a couple feet from the girls. "Sam, what are you-?" said Dani, but Sam says, "Dani, she a bad guy."

Sam readies her weapon, but Dani gets in between the two. "Wait, Sam. She's a friend of mine."

Sam puts her weapon down, confused. "What? Dani, she tried to take over the world, twice."

"Sam, I know that, but I told Ember another way to get her anger out."

"And what is that?"

"Writing songs." said Ember. She shows Sam a pile of songs.

"Wow." said Sam.

"Yeah. She had a lot of problems when she was human." said Dani.

"So, you trust her?" asked Sam.

"Yes. Enough for her to help us."

Sam sighed, then said, "Alright. Let's hurry."

Dani nods and flies to the portal. Sam turns to Ember and says, "I'm watching you."

"Yeah. I'm guessing it'll take a while for you to trust me." said Ember.

They both fly off after Dani.

* * *

After the trio passes the portal, they find the lab covered in vines.

"Yikes. If this is what the lab looks like, I hate to see what the rest of Amity Park looks like." said Dani.

She walks to a table and picks up a metal belt-like machine.

"What are you doing, Dani?" asked Sam.

"That mind plant is a ghost plant made by Undergrowth, right?" said Dani.

"Right." Said Sam, wondering where she's going.

"Well, this Specter Deflector repels ghost, right?"

"I think I see where this is going." said Sam, a smile creeping on her face.

"That's right." said Dani. "This will protect you so you won't be controlled." She handed the deflector to Sam, who put it on.

"Okay, defeat the weed named Undergrowth."

The girls fly up, turning intangible, Dani helping Sam, and flying out of the house. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Amity Park is covered with large vines. You couldn't tell if you're in a jungle or a town. Dani and her friends fly around the town, wondering where everyone is, and Dani worrying what happened to her brother.

"Where is everybody?" asked Ember.

Dani turns to Sam, asking, "Do you remember what happens, Sam?"

"No." Sam said. "I couldn't remember much after Danny freed me from Undergrowth."

"Okay, then we'll-"before Dani could finish, she heard someone.

"Dani."

The ghost girl looks around to see who said that. "Danny?"

"Huh?" said the two girls.

Dani looks at them, confused. "Didn't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" asked Sam.

"It sounded like-"

"Dani."

This time, the three heard the sound. They look around to find the source.

"Um, is it me, or did that sound like Danny?" asked Ember.

"I'm pretty sure it was Danny." Sam said.

"And I think it came from the park." Dani added.

They head to the park, getting ready to what they may find. When they get to their destination, they gasp at what they're seeing.

Gigantic flowers, all closed, are everywhere. An enormous tree is in the middle, where all the vines seem to come from. The tree is gnarled with purple bark and black leaves.

Dani looks around to see if she can find her brother.

"Danny, are you here?" asked the girl hybrid.

"Welcome back Dani."

Danielle turns and sees some flowers part to reveal Danny. But he changed. Instead of the black and white jumpsuit, he's wearing black clothing with green in it, which looks like it was made of plants. On top of his white hair is a blood red, giant rose headset.

A bewildered Dani asks, "Danny, what happened to you?"

Danny smiles and says, "The question is, when do you ready to join us?"

"Why would I join a weed?" asked Dani, angrily.

The ghost boy growls, then says, "Don't talk about my father like that. I joined him, so he can't be all bad."

"Danny, he's not your father. You're not in your head right now. C'mon Danny, come back. Fight Undergrowth. You don't have to follow him. Fight it!"

"I don't care what you say, you will join us." Danny shoots a mind vine at Dani. Dani couldn't dodge the vine, but a pink guitar whacks it back.

"Back off, ghost brat." Ember says.

Danny growls, then smiles at the two.

Ember, confused, says, "What are you smiling about?"

Suddenly, the ground started quaking. Sam flies to float by Dani. Before them, Undergrowth appears before them.

"No matter how many you recruit, you will not stop me, ghost child." He sends mind vines after them. One went after Sam, but Ember got in the way and whacks off the first few. One, though, wraps around Ember and throws her to a building.

"Ember!" a vine attaches to Sam, much to Undergrowth delight. But then the vine disintegrates and Sam stands up. "Nice try."

"But how?" asked Undergrowth.

Sam points the deflector. "Specter Deflector. Repels all kinds of ghost."

Undergrowth growls and sends vines to attack the Goth girl. Dani comes and shoots the vines to pieces.

"Nice try, weed." She flies off to Undergrowth, but he sends another mind vine at her. Dani screams and falls to the ground.

Undergrowth smiles and says, "Yes. What better than one phantom under my control, then two phantoms?"

"Dani!"Sam flies to the hybrid, but Dani says, "Back off, Sam. Don't come any closer." She struggles against the vine, then stops. Dani gets up, and looks at Undergrowth.

"Dani?" said Sam, afraid of what happened to her friend.

Dani reaches behind, and pulls off the vine from her neck. She then starts to glow with a blue aura and her eyes turns blue.

"You destroyed my home, attack my friends, took control over my brother's mind, and tried to take control over me." She starts to float up in the air. "I have HAD IT!" she fires ice at Undergrowth, who freezes. He brakes free and fires vines at Dani. She freezes them and brakes the vines into pieces. Undergrowth yells and starts to shrink. Dani floats there and starts to form a lage ice ball. Danny sneaks behind her and charges her. Without turning around, she fires at danny, freezing him.

"Sorry, Danny." She said, before she flies at the plant ghost.

""She really gets angry when you mess with what's important to her." said Ember, flying to Sam.

Sam replies, "Yeah, she does. It's a little scary."

Undergrowth fires more vines, but Danny freezes them, too. Undergrowth starts shrinking more, and Dani gets an idea. She flies down, turning intangible and phasing into the ground. The ghost girl starts freezing his roots.

"My roots." said Undergrowth as he shrinks more. "Nooooo!"

Dani phases back up and makes a giant snowball with ecto-energy in it.

"Bon voyage, weed." She throws the snowball at Undergrowth. The ball makes a whole in his chest, but Udergrowth regenerates. He's about to destroy the girl hybrid, when his chest started glowing.

"No." he said as he feels himself breaking apart. "Noooooo."

Undergrowth explodes, sending vegetation around. The vines start withering around town, and everyone is waking up from the flowers, which fell down. Danny, unfrozen, gets up from the ground in his old white and black suit.

"Uh what happened?" Danny then finds himself on the ground again, being tackled by Sam.

"Danny, your okay."

"Sam, what happened?"

"You were under Undergrowth control, but Dani saved you."

"She did?" asked Danny bewildered.

"You better believe it, brother."

Danny looks up to see her sister floating down. She is still surrounded by blue light.

"But how? The only way you could defeat him is with ice powers."

"Which I did get." Dani shows the ghost boy an ice crystal she made.

"Wow." Danny said. "I knew you were getting that power."

"Yeah. Thanks for the info." Said Dani.

Danny sees Ember walking towards them, and gets ready to fire an ecto-beam at her. Before he could, Dani flies between them and says, "Wait, Danny. It's fine. She's a friend."

Danny puts down his arm, confused, "Huh?"

Sam walks up to them. "Yeah, Danny. It's cool. She actually tried to save my life."

"But," said Danny. "Didn't she try to take over the world? Or am I hallucinating?"

Dani giggles and says, "Yeah, well, I taught a another way to let go of her anger."

Danny looks at Ember, uncertainly, then says, "I guess I can give it a shot. But one funny business, and I'll send you back to the Ghost Zone."

Ember raises her arms, saying, "Don't worry. I learned my lesson."

"Well, I think this has been the best girls night out." Everyone laughed at her comment.

"So, anyone hungry?" Danny asks.

"I'll take anything except a salad." They all laugh and walk off, forgetting about Tucker.

"Uh hello?" said Tucker. "Can anyone help me? Somebody!"


	7. Chapter 6: The School Dance

Chapter 6: The School Dance

"Citizens, after an attack from a ghost," Vlad said, showing a picture of Undergrowth. "We believe the newcomer may be the cause." He shows a picture of Dani Phantom fighting against Undergrowth.

"Can you believe this guy?" Danny and Danielle are watching the news, which is showing Vlad Masters tell the people the 'new threat'. "He's blaming me for the attack by Undergrowth."

"Ha, you don't know the half of it." said Danny.

"Kids!" yelled Maddie. "You better go before you're late for school!"

Okay, Mom!" they said. The two Fenton's picks up their packs and leave the house heading to school.

"I just hope today will be a ghost-free day." said Dani.

"Why is that?" asked the ghost boy.

"Undergrowth was hard to beat. I just want to take a break from fighting ghost."

"Okay. If you say so."

When they got to school, they met up with Sam and Tucker. Sam asks, "So, Danny. Are you ready for the dance tonight?" Dani notices Sam seems to be waiting for something.

"Oh, um…well," stuttered Danny. "Well, maybe, if-if I ask someone."

"Oh, okay." said Sam, looking down. "What about you, Dani?"

"Why should I go? I'm just going to go home and watch some T.V."

"Ah, come on, Dani. It'll be fun." said Danny.

"I'll go if someone asks me, but we all know no one is going to ask me out."

Sam sees Jake walking up to school. "Oh, I've got a feeling someone's going to ask you." Sam said, but Dani didn't hear.

The day just went on without a ghost attack. Dani went from class to class like any normal day. In the hallway, Dani was putting away some books, when she saw her brother being lifted by the bully, Dash Baxter.

Dash says, "This is for the D- in science." He was about to punch Danny when he heard, "Leave him alone, Dash."

He turns to see Dani walking towards him. "What do you want?"

Dani looks at him, angrily. "What I want, is you to put him down."

Dash drops Danny onto the floor. "There, I put him down. Maybe," Dash picks up Dani by the shirt. "I should cream you instead."

All Dani does is smile.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Dash.

Dani says, "This." and kicks Dash in the chest. He falls back, clutching his chest.

"Feisty one. Well you're going to wish you didn't do that." He charges Dani, but she moves and sticks one leg out, making Dash trip. Everyone laughs at Dash.

Dani laughs and says, "Wow. This is probably humiliating to you, getting beat by a girl who's smaller than you."

That sets off Dash. He shouts and rushes Dani, like in football. Before Dani could get out of the way, Dash grabs her and throws her on a locker.

"This is for humiliating me in front of everyone." said Dash. He's about to punch Dani, when the bell rang. Dash put Dani down, then says, "This isn't over." and walks to his class.

Danny helps he sister up, then asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dani said.

"Okay. Well, we should head to class." They head to class, and went on with their business. After school everyone went home, talking about the dance tonight.

Dani is putting some books in her pack, when someone says,"Dani."

She looks up to see Jake Forrell. "Hey, Jake." Dani said. "How was your day?"

"Good. Um, Dani, I was wondering if you w-want to go to the dance with me." He asked nervously.

Dani looks at Jake, surprised. "You want me to go to the dance with you?"

"Just as friends." Jake quickly said. "Of course if you don't want to go, I'll understand."

"Oh, well, I don't know. I'll think about it."

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you later." Jake walks back to his home. Dani watches him, wondering if she should go.

"So, are you going to the dance?"

Dani turns to see Sam walking out of her hiding spot. "You heard all that?"

Sam says, "Yeah. I think you should go. You did say you would go if someone asks you."

"I guess I did say that."

"Well, do whatever you want." Sam said, walking off. "But if it was me, I'd go."

"You going with Danny?" asked Dani.

Sam stops and nervously says, "Well, uh, maybe. I'm still waiting for him to ask me, if he wants to go."

"Hey, Sam!"

They both turn to see Danny running towards them.

Dani says, "I think he's going to ask."

"Yeah. Hey, Dani…" Sam said.

"I get it. I'm off." Dani runs off, then back." Good luck." She runs off again.

Dani is walking back home, thinking if she should go with Jake, or just stay home. She opens the door and throws her backpack on the couch, and turns on the T.V.

"Danielle." Maddie calls.

"What?" Dani calls back.

"Could you come here for a minute?"

Dani sighs and walks into the kitchen to see Maddie with a bag. "What do you want, Mom?"

Maddie puts the bag on the table and says, "I just want to show you the dress I bought for the dance tonight." She pulls out a black dress with spaghetti straps and a purple bow on the middle. Maddie also pulls out a purple headband with a black bat on one side. The dress also includes purple elbow-length gloves.

"What do you think?" asked Maddie.

Dani stares at the dress, astonished. "It's beautiful."

"I saw this at the store, and with your interest in Goth," Dani looks at Maddie, annoyed. "Uh, which you aren't," Maddie quickly adds. "I new this would be perfect. Are you going to the dance?"

"Uh…well…" she thought of Jake, then said, "Yeah, I'm going." She takes the dress and hangs it up in her closet.

Dani hears the door slam and runs to see Danny sitting down, looking very happy.

"So, what did Sam say?" asked Dani.

"About what?" Danny said.

"About the dance, duh."

"Well, she said yes!"

"Good for you." said Dani. She walks off to get something from the fridge, when she heard an explosion from the lab. Dani runs to see Jack covered in ash with most of his hair burned off.

"What happened?" asked Dani.

All Maddie said was, "Failed experiment."

"Oh." Dani walks back to the kitchen and gets an apple from the fridge.

When it was almost time to go to the dance, Danny and Danielle went to get ready. Danny puts on a gray suit with a tie. Danielle puts on her black dress with a purple headband and purple gloves. When they came out and went downstairs, Maddie takes pictures of them, said have fun, and the two Fenton's walk off to the dance. Before they got to the school, their ghost sense appears. They look around to see the Box Ghost.

Dani says, "Go on ahead. I got this."

"Okay." said Danny. He walks off to meet Sam, who is in her black dress with her hair up and a purse in her hand. Dani turns ghost and flies to meet the annoying ghost.

"Beware! I am the Box-"said the Box Ghost.

"Oh, just shut up." Dani said, sucking the ghost into the Fenton Thermos.

Dani shuts the thermos, and flies into an ally. She changes back and walks off, making sure nobody saw her. Dani walks to school, and sees Jake in a suit, waiting by the doorway. She walks to him and says, "Hey, Jake."

"Dani. So you did co-"before he finished his sentence, he was dumbfounded when he saw Dani in a beautiful dress.

Dani stares at Jake, confused. She says, "Um, are you okay?"

Jake snaps back to reality and say, "Yeah, I'm fine." Dani smiles and Jake offers his arm. Dani takes it and they both walk into the dance.

Almost everyone was dancing. The DJ was now playing some hip hop. Dani saw some kids sitting down at the tables. She saw Danny and Sam dancing, and Tucker dancing with Valerie.

Jake offers Dani a hand and asks, "You wanna dance?" Dani takes her hand, and they both walk to a spot and start dancing. Dani sees Dash dancing with Paulina, Kwan dancing with Star, and Mr. Lancer trying to be cool. Everyone dance to different music, once in a while getting some punch. The DJ plays some slow music, which seems everyone was waiting for. Dani and Jake dance closely, enjoying the music. Danielle sees Danny and Sam walking to the hallway, probably to talk in private. Dani looks at Jake, his cute eyes, and handsome face. Jake seeing Dani's beautiful eyes and face. The two start to leaning closer, closing their eyes, until a black and white figure fell through the roof, onto the dance floor. An elderly ghost floats down and says, "You should eat more meat, your all skin and bone! Want some pie?"

"No thank. All I want is you back in the Ghost Zone!" Danny said. He flew and landed a punch to the Lunch Lady. He takes off after her, and resumes the battle.

"Wow. A lot of ghost here isn't there?" said Jake.

"Yeah, ghost." Dani said, nervously. "Could you excuse me?" she runs to the girl's bathroom and picks a stall. Dani converts to her ghost form, turns intangible, and flies off after Danny. She finds him fighting a meat ghost, guessing that's the Lunch Lady in her meat suit.

The meat ghost bats Danny away, and says, "Time to end your life, ghost." Before she lands a fatal blow, she gets blasted from behind. The Lunch Lady falls, almost smashing Danny.

"Who dares to blast me?" She turns to see another black and white ghost floating.

"I dare." Dani said.

The Lunch Lady growls and says, "Then you shall pay!" she fires a meat blast, but Dani turns intangible and flies to the ghost, knocking the Lunch lady out of her meat suit. Before she can call the meat back, Dani sucks her into the thermos.

"Wow." Dani turns to see the ghost boy flying towards her. "I never thought of ramming through her meat suit."

"Thanks. We should get back to the dance." Before they fly back, Danny gets blasted, again, and Dani looks to see it came from guys in white suits, riding some kind of flying machine. "I got it, but this can't be right. This shows two ecto-signatures. Where could the other one be?"

"Um, if you look up, you can see 'it'." said Dani.

They both look up and see Dani floating in front of them.

"Found it." said the other guy.

"Um, 'it' has a name."

"Who are you, ghost?" said the first guy.

"The name's Dani Phantom. Who are you guys, anyway?" asked Dani.

"We're known as the Guys in White." said the second guy.

"Yeah, I noticed. What are you guys, ghost hunters?"

"Yes. Now, it's time to eliminate you." They both point their weapons at Dani, but get blasted by an energy beam. Danny flies next to his sister, and says, "I suggest you both go back to your government before I make you."

The Guys in White tries to blast Danny, but fails.

Danny says, "Okay. I guess you're going the hard way." He turns invisible, and the GIW look around to see if he went somewhere. To their surprise, they are lifted up by some invisible force, and are thrown back to their base. Danny appears, dusting his hands.

"Wow. These guys are getting easier to handle."

Dani flies to him and says, "You sure know a lot of people."

"Yeah, which makes it easier to get rid of them."

"Well, I'm heading back to the dance." Dani flies back to the bathroom, and changes back to Danielle Fenton. She walks out and sees that almost everyone went home. She saw Danny and Sam dancing. She then saw Jake sitting down at one of the tables. She walks to him.

"Hey, Jake."

"Oh, there you are, Dani. I was wondering what was taking so long." Jake said.

They both heard the DJ say, "Okay, It's time to tune it down before the night is all over. So get your partners and dance to this last song tonight." He plays another slow song, which Dani and Jake walk to the dance floor and start dancing slowly. Dani puts her head on Jake's chest, closing her eyes.

Danny looks over to his sister and sees her leaning her head onto her friend's chest. He smiles and turns back to Sam, both of them dancing to the song

Zepherus watches Dani fly back to her school. He follows, seeing her dancing with her friend, looking happy.

"That's right, Danielle. Be happy. This may be your last happy time before I finish what I have started." He grins devilishly and flies off to prepare his plan.


	8. Chapter 7: Amity Parks meets Zepherus

In this chapter, the song is Taking Over Me by Evanescence. Words that are in (these), ember is signing. Words not in those, Dani is signing.

If you have the song, you can play it to get a better idea on how Dani is singing and the instruments playing

* * *

Chapter 7: Amity Parks Meets Zepherus

"Danny, why are we here, again?" Sam asked, bored.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker are in the auditorium, waiting for the talent show to start.

"We're here to support my sister and her band." Danny said.

"I wonder who is in her band, and what song their singing?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know. Dani was in the lab, telling us, including mom and dad, to stay out of the lab."Danny said. "I did hear their instruments playing, faintly, and it sounded liked rock."

'Well, I hope it was worth it, sitting here for 30 minutes." said Sam, gloomily.

Danny says, "Um, we've only been sitting here for 5 minutes."

"Quiet, the show is starting." Tucker whispered.

The curtains parted, and the announcer came out to introduce the first act. "Ladies and gentlemen's, welcome to the Casper High Talent Show. Now, I like to introduce Paulina and the cheerleader squad."

The talent show went on for a long time to Sam, when it lasted for only 30 minutes. The three friends clapped politely to all the contestants, Danny and Tucker waiting for Dani to perform, Sam waiting for the whole thing to be over. Finally, the announcer says, "Now, give it up for the Phantom Storm!"

He walks behind the curtains, and the lights faded. Piano starts playing. Then, the instruments start playing. Smoke appears, and when it disappears, Dani is there, surrounded in white light.

_You don't remember me_

_But I remember you_

_I lie awake and try so hard_

_Not to think of you_

_But who can decide_

_What they dream?_

_And dream I do_

_I believe in you_

_I'll give up everything_

_Just to find you_

_I have to be with you_

_To live_

_To breathe_

_You're taking over me!_

Ember appears in blue smoke, surrounded in blue light, along with Jake playing the piano, surround in blue light, and the drummer in blue light.

"Ember?" Danny said, surprised.

"You brought the Fenton Thermos, just in case?" asked Tucker.

"Yeah."

_Have you forgotten_

_All I know_

_And all we had?_

_You saw me mourning_

_My love for you_

_And touched my hand_

_I knew you loved me, then_

_I believe in you_

_I'll give up everything _

_Just to find you_

_I have to be with you_

_To live_

_To breathe_

_You're taking over me!_

_I look in the mirror_

_And see your face_

_If I look deep enough_

_So many things inside_

_That are just like you_

_Are taking over_

_I believe in you_

_I'll give up everything_

_Just to find you_

_I have to be with you_

_To live_

_To breathe_

_You're taking over me!_

_I believe in you_

_I'll give up everything _

_Just to find you_

_I have to be with you_

_To live_

_To breathe_

_You're taking over me!_

_(Taking over me)_

_You're taking over me!_

_(Taking over me)_

_Taking over me!_

The song ends, light fading and the band vanishing in smoke. Everyone claps louder than they ever did all through the talent show, some yelling an encore.

The announcer walks out and says, "That was The Phantom Storm, playing the song, Taking over me by Evanescence."

Danny turns around and says to Sam, "So, was it worth waiting?"

"Actually, yeah. I'd be surprised if she didn't win first place." Sam said.

The talent show went on for 20 more minutes, then the announcer says, "Now, for the winners." He pulls out a piece of paper, and says, "In third place, is the Hip-Hoppin' Teens." A couple kids walk up and get a small trophy, with $50 prize money. The announcer continues, "In second place are Paulina and the Squad." Paulina and a couple girls walk up, collecting a slightly bigger trophy, with the $100 prize money. Danny notices Paulina looks a little disappointed, and probably wondering who won first place. "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for."

"Well, here it comes." said Tucker. Everyone tenses up, waiting for the winner.

The announcer pulls out a piece of paper, and says, "The winner of the Casper High Talent Show is…the Phantom Storm!"

Everyone claps as Dani and her band walks up. She picks up the big trophy, along with the $1,000 reward money and four tickets to Floody Waters.

"Let's hear it for Phantom Storm!" said the announcer. Everyone claps louder and cheers. Dani sees her brother cheering for her, and her smile gets bigger.

* * *

"Great job, Dani!" said Danny.

"Thanks." Dani said.

"You and your band were awesome!" Tucker said.

"Thanks, Tucker." Ember said

Jake says, "Yeah, thanks."

"I can't wait to get home." said Dani.

* * *

After they got home, Jake said good-bye to Dani and her friends, Ember turns intangible and flies back to the Ghost Zone, and Dani walks inside to find Maddie, Jack, and Jazz surprising her. "Congratulation, Dani." Maddie said.

"Yeah, we saw it all on T.V" said Jack.

"It was on T.V.?" asked Dani.

"Yeah. You didn't know?" said Danny.

"No. I'm going to put this in my room." She walks upstairs and go's to her bedroom. She puts the trophy on her desk, Then her ghost sense appears, and She transforms and flies outside to see where the ghost is. Dani looks and sees smoke coming from the center of the town. She flies off to to it and sees a black ghost wreaking havoc.

"Ha. This is just too easy."

Dani knew that her mom and dad will be here any second. On cue, the Fenton RV roll up, and Jack and Maddie jump out and start shooting at the ghost. He bats them away, and shoots at the ghost hunters. They dodge it, and Maddie ask, "What are you, ghost?"

"I think you mean 'who are you?'. My name is Zepherus."

"Zepherus?" asked Jack.

"Yes. Now, I have some unfinished business." Zepherus said, shooting at the Fenton's, pushing the back.

"Hey, tall, dark, and evil." Dani said. She blast Zepherus from behind. He falls and crashes into a wall. "How 'bout you leave quietly, or should I make you?"

Zepherus smiles and floats up to Dani. "Ah, Dani Phantom. I've been waiting for you."

Dani doesn't like the sound of that. She powers up her energy beams, and asks,"What do you mean by that?"

Zepherus snaps his fingers, and 4 ghosts, as dark as shadow, appears. Dani fires her ecto beam, burning a hole in one of the ghost. The wound just shrinks and heals, not even fazing the ghost.

Dani says, "Uh oh."

Two ghosts grab her arm. Dani tries to wretch free, even turning intangible, but all fails. The ghost pulls Dani to Zepherus. He says, "Now, time to finish what I started." He is about to shoot Dani, when one of the black ghost incinerates. The ghosts, Zepherus, and Dani looks around, confused. The two ghosts holding Dani incinerates.

"I suggest you get away from Dani."

The girl hybrid turns and sees her brother flying towards her. "Why are you here, Zepherus?"

"So I can introduce myself to Amity Park, and I wanted Dani to come find me, so I wreaked havoc here." Zepherus shoots at the two hybrids, but they dodge the blast.

"Why do you want me?" asked Dani.

"Don't you remember me when I shot beams at your Dad?"

Dani gasps as a part of her memory is revealed.

_Dani wakes up and sees Zepherus shooting at her dad. She gets up and accidentally presses a button._

Uh oh,_ thought Dani, as the machine starts to hum to life…_

Dani floats back, away from the black ghost. "You…you tried to kill my parents."

"Ah, so you do remember. Yes I did try to kill your parents, and succeeded, just not in the way I plan."

"W-why?"

Zepherus smiles. "My mission was to destroy all Fenton's. I just missed one. You somehow survived, which I still cannot believe."

"Wait. Destroy all Fenton's?" asked Danny.

"Yes. My master read a prophesy, saying a child of ghost killers will destroy him."

"Who's your master?" asked Dani, sounding braver.

"You don't need to know. You won't live that long to find out." Zepherus creates a black sword and starts attacking the ghost hybrids. They dodge and fire at the black ghost. Zepherus blocks the beams with his sword, the beams looking like its getting sucked into the sword. He swings the sword at Dani. Dani, not being so quick, got cut on the arm.

"Ow!" Dani said, clutching the cut on her arm. Zepherus smiles and is about to make the fatal blow, when he got blasted from behind. Zepherus turns and starts attacking Danny, instead of finishing off the girl hybrid.

_How can I stop him? _Dani thought. _With that sword, he's got a 3 foot advantage, and the sword practically sucks the ecto-energy! Unless… _Dani concentrated on a sword in her head. The sword is a 2 foot, sharp sword, with small, sharp, teeth-like blades on the back. Dani feels something on her hand, and she wraps around it with her hand. Dani opens her eyes, and in her hand is the sword she thought of. _…We even the odds. _Dani grins, until she sees Danny fall to the ground, with Zepherus getting ready to swing down.

"Get ready to meet death, ghost boy." Zepherus swings and Danny closes his eyes, getting ready for the unbearable pain that will end his life.

CLANG!

Not feeling any pain, not counting the pain he got on his back. He opens his eyes to see Dani above him, blocking the Zepherus's attack with a green, wicked sword. Zepherus looks surprised at the sword.

"Dani, where did you get that sword?" before Dani could answer, Zepherus got over his shock and flies up. Dani follows and the two have a medieval sword fight in the air. Danny watches in awe as his sister fought hard, but she looks like she's getting tired. Zepherus pushes Dani, by the swords, to a building. He swings, but dani flies away from the blade, making Zepherus cut through the building wall like butter. Dani turns and swings, and misses Zepherus as he dodges. Dani cuts the building wall, instead, slicing through the building. She twists to meet Zepherus, but gets whacked by him. Zepherus swings, making a cut through her left eye.

"AAH!" Dani screams. Zepherus raises his sword, and brings it down at Dani. She blocks it and swings a kick at the black ghost's chest. He clutches his chest, and looks at the enraged Dani, who looks scarier with the scar crossing down her eye.

"Hmm. It seems I underestimated you. It won't matter. I will finish my mission." Zepherus vanishes, and Dani flies to Danny.

Danny says, "Dani, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dani's hand clutches her scar, which is stinging a little.

"Here, let me see." Danny moves his sister's hand, and examines the cut on her eye. "Looks bad. We should head back home."

Danny starts to fly home. Danny turns and sees his sister holding her head. "Are you sure your fine?"

"I'm alright! Just a little dizzy, that's all." Dani starts to fly, but falls.

Danny catches her and says, "Maybe I should help you." He flies to home, carrying Dani. Danny lands on the sidewalk next to his house. He puts Dani down and transforms to Danny Fenton, Dani turning human, too. Danny walks up and opens the door, helping Dani up the stairs.

"Mom, we need help!" yelled Danny. Maddie zooms out of the kitchen, hearing her son's yell.

"What's the matter, Danny?" Maddie looks at Dani's bloody eye. "Oh my gosh, sweetie, what happened?" she runs to Dani, examining her injured eye. She also sees the cut on Dani's arm.

"I, uh, fell…off a tree." said Dani.

"Why were you in a tree?"

"to save a…cat."

"Oh, how nice. Come on Dani, let's patch those wounds."

"It's okay. I can handle myself." Dani walks to the stairs to get the first aid kit. On the first few steps, dani starts to feel dizzy again, and darkness starts to appear around her good eye.

"Dani!" exclaimed Danny. Dani starts to fall, but her brother caught her before Dani could get more injured. Dani starts to faint, her vision fading.


	9. Chapter 8: Vlad Plasmius

Chapter 8: Vlad Plasmius

_Dani swings at Zepherus with her favorite sword, but Zepherus blocks it with his improved sword. He swings, and knocks Dani's sword out of her hand. Dani looks at the tall ghost, fear in her eyes. Zepherus punches Dani to a roof of a building._

"_Time for your demise, ghost child." Zepherus raises his sword, and brings it down into Dani's stomach. Dani screams as the agonizing pain went through her whole body, feeling her life diminishing._

"_No! Dani!" yelled Jake._

Dani wakes up from her horrifying nightmare. Dani's vision is a little blurry. All she saw, right now, was a white ceiling. Dani notices she is on something comfortable with her head on something soft. She reaches to her aching head, and feels something covering her left eye. She gets up, then a huge headache comes. Dani clutches her head.

"Careful, Danielle."

Dani turns to the voice, and she sees a blurred person.

"Wh-who are you?" asked Dani.

Her vision clears, and she sees a woman in a white uniform. The woman is holding a clipboard. "I'm Mrs. Johnson."

"Where am I?" Dani looks around and notices machines beeping. She recognizes one machine that shows her heartbeats.

"You're in a hospital in room 232." said Mrs. Johnson.

Dani turns and sees a mirror. Staring back at her is a girl with a path covering her whole left eye. Dani reaches to touch her eye, when the doctor said, "Don't touch your eye."

Dani stops and puts her hand down. "How long have I been out?"

"About a whole day."

"What?"

"Calm down, Danielle."

Dani calms down and asks, "How long am I going to stay?"

Mrs. Johnson answers, "We're just going to run a couple more test, and then you can go home."

Dani feels relieved, then asks, "Can I take off this cloth?"

"Sure."

Dani peels the bandage off, and looks at the mirror.

"AAH!" Dani screams, because going across her eye is an ugly scar, still a little red. "Is this scar going to go away?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it won't. The scar will shrink, but won't vanish."

Dani groans after hearing the news

Mrs. Johnson says, "If you want to leave soon, we should get started."

Dani agrees, and the two start on the tests.

After the tests, Mrs. Johnson tells Dani she called her parents, and leads Dani to the lobby, where Dani's family is waiting.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton." Mrs. Johnson calls. The Fenton's turn and see their daughter. They smile, and Danny and Jazz sigh in relief. Maddie and Jack sign some papers, then exit the hospital with Dani.

"Thank goodness you're alright, Dani." said Maddie. "You had us all worried when you fainted."

"Yeah, well, I'm alright." Dani said.

"Okay. Well, be careful the next time you climb a tree."

"Okay."

"Fell off a tree?" said Danny.

"Hey. I had to think of something fast." Dani said. "Do you think you can think of a better excuse in a moment?"

"Well, maybe not."

Dani smirks. "Exactly."

Danny smiles as he starts the game 'Doom 2.0'. "So, you ready for school tomorrow?"

"Oh man. School. Do I have to go?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

Dani points at her scar.

"Oh, right." The game starts and Danny logs in.

Dani says, "Maybe I'll just wear some sunglasses tomorrow."

"Suit yourself. You want to play?" asked Danny, pointing at the game.

"Sure." Dani said, grabbing a controller.

The next day, Dani goes through her regular schedule. After she got dressed, Dani put on dark sunglasses. She went downstairs and looks for Danny. When she didn't find him, she guessed he already left for school. Dani says good-bye, and leaves to school. Dani got to school, glad nobody she knows saw her. She went inside, and went to her classes. To her relief, none of the teachers asked about the sunglasses.

After a couple of classes, Dani goes to her locker and puts her books inside.

"Hey, Fenterd!"

Dani turns and sees Dash walking towards her.

"What do you want, Dash?" asked Dani.

Dash grins and says, ignoring her question, "What's with the shades? Trying to be cool?"

"No. Are you trying to be cool by wearing that leather jacket?"

Dash picks up Dani, then says, "You are going to get clobbered so hard, you'll spend years in the hospital." He punches Dani, and she flies to a locker. Her sunglasses fall off, and Dash sees the scar on her face.

"Where'd you get that scar?" asked Dash.

Dani gets up, and says, in anger, "None of your business."

Dash grabs Dani, and says, "Whatever."

"Hey, Dash. Leave Dani alone."

Dash turns and sees Jake walking up to them. "What do you want, Jake?"

Jake stops in front of Dash. "I said, leave her alone."

Dash opens a locker, pushes Dani inside, and closes the locker.

"Yeah, and what are you going to do?" said Dash, sarcastically. He grabs Jake by the shoulder; Jake grabs his hand and throws Dash down the hall. Jake turns and opens the locker Dani is in, and helps her down. "Thanks." said Dani.

"No prob." Jake said. He turns at a noise, and sees Dash running at them. Jake steps out of the way, and grabs Dash by the arm. He swings the bully at Dani, who punches him away. Dash gets up, and is about to destroy Dani and Jake, when Mr. Lancer stops them.

"Crime of the century, what is going on here?"

"Well, um…" Jake said.

"They both beat me up for no reason." said Dash.

"What? Why you little creep!"Dani said, about to beat up Dash even more.

Mr. Lancer says, "Now wait a moment. I see what's going on."

"You do?" said Dash, Jake, and Dani.

"Yes. Dash lost a game, so he just wants to, how do you kids say it?" Mr. Lancer looks at a book that says 'How 2 b Hip'. "Let off some steam. I'll see you two in detention." Mr. Lancer points at Dani and Jake.

"What?" said Dani. "What about Dash?"

"He is our football hero, which makes him disbanded from punishment. I will be calling both of your parents." He walks away, leaving us. Dash smirks and says, "See you later, Scarface." He walks off, leaving Dani and Jake alone in the hallway.

When Dani got home, her parents gave her a long, angry speech; until Danny got her out, telling them they're going to get some fresh air.

"Look, Dani. I know Dash can be a big jerk, but you can't just go and beat him up." said Danny.

"Whatever. You don't know what I'm going through." Dani said.

"Oh, yes I do." said Danny. "Dash picked on me before. I used my powers to get revenge, but I learned not to get back at him all the time."

"Fine." Dani said, still steaming a little. Suddenly, her ghost sense went off, along with Danny's, and they both look around to find the ghost. The two hear screaming, and they both go ghost, and fly off to where the scream came from.

When they got there, they find a herd of dark ghost running around, scaring the people. One ghost looks around, and found the two ghost hybrids. He jumps on the building, climbs up, and shoots towards them. They dodge the black ghost, and Dani shoots at it, disintegrating it.

"Those look like the shadows that helped Zepherus." Dani said.

Danny says, "Great. Come to think of it, they look a lot like Johnny 13's shadow."

"So? How does that help?" Dani punches another black ghost down.

"Johnny's shadow weakens with bright light."

Dani smiles. "That gives me an idea." She shoots a beam of light, disintegrating a whole bunch of shadows. Her brother examines the threat, and says, "Looks like the attacks are everywhere. We're going to have to split up."Danny points west. "You go that way; I'll go the other way."

Dani agrees and flies off to the west of town. She sees shadows everywhere, and Dani starts attacking, destroying the black ghost. She turns and sees one ghost launch at her. Before she shoots him away, a purple beam blasts the beast apart. Confused, she looks to the direction the blast came from, and sees a pale guy wearing a suit that is mostly white with some black. He's wearing a white cape that is red inside. His hair is black, standing up in a U-shape, and he has fangs.

He said, "So you're the new ghost hero, Dani Phantom."

Dani grabs the tail of one shadow ghost, and throws him away from Amity Park. "Who are you?"

"Vlad Plasmius."

"Oh." Dani said with a smile. "So you're the frootloop."

Vlad got angry and says, "I am not a frootloop!" He gets pounded by one ghost, who sneaks behind him and jumped. Dani turns and sees Vlad blasting the creature.

_It looks like he's got everything under control _thought Dani. She blasts another ghost, wondering where all the ghosts are coming from. She goes the opposite way of the ghost, and finds a black portal, where ghost are forming. She turns invisible and flies to it. Dani blasts it, but the portal just sucks the energy. She uses more power, but it still sucks it in.

A couple beasts sneak up behind Dani, and pounces. Dani turns and got rammed by the middle ghost. The beast keeps her down, no matter how much she tries to push it off. Suddenly, a pink beam blasts the beast off of her. She turns and sees Vlad.

"What do you want, Vlad?" asked Dani.

"I just don't want these creatures loose in the city."

"Why?" Dani blasts a ghost.

"I've read of these creatures. Trust me; these are extremely weak compared to the living shadows."

"These are just robot ghosts?"

"Not exactly," Vlad punches a ghost away from him. "But yes. Now, let's destroy that portal."

Dani and Vlad build their rays, and blast it at the black portal. The green and pink swirl together and hits the portal. The black vortex starts to shrink, until it vanishes.

"Uh, thanks?" said Dani.

"You're welcome. Now, if you excuse me…" Vlad starts to fly, but Dani grabs him by the cape.

"Where did you find out about those ghosts?"

"Where do you think? From a book." said Vlad, matter-of-fact.

"Can I see the book?" said Dani.

"Uh, yeah, about that…the ghost came to my mansion and stole the book." Vlad got punched in his face.

"That book could have been helpful!" Dani yelled.

"Sorry if I can't stay and chat, but I have to leave now. Ta." Vlad vanishes in pink swirls. Dani flies off to Danny, still steaming. She finds her brother destroying the last of the shadows.

Danny sees her sister flying towards him. "Hey Dani." He saw her all angry. "Um are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay. I just met Vlad Plasmius, who knows about these creatures, and I ask if I can borrow his book, to find out it was stolen. So why would I NOT be okay?"

"Um, okay. Wait, he has a book about these ghosts?"

"I just said that."

"Well, we should go home. You look a little tired from fighting."

"Fine." Dani knew not to argue with her brother.

They fly home, thinking what these ghost are doing, and if that Zepherus guy is behind it.

"She seems to be getting more powerful, sire. Are you sure you don't want me to destroy her?" Zepherus asked.

"No." said a deeper voice. "She now knows you, and will know how to defeat you. We will wait until we destroy what matters most to her."

A picture appears, showing Zepherus attacking Dani's Family, friends, and Dani stabbed by the black ghost. The dark being in the shadows smile. "All is going according to plan. Soon, I will be immortal, and nobody will be able to defeat me." He laughs a spine tingling laugh and Zepherus smiles as he sees Dani dying.


	10. Chapter 9: Shadow Realm

Chapter 9: Shadow realm

The week passed by without any shadow attack. Without any ghost attack. Dani wonders where all the ghosts are. She was expecting an attack at least once in the week. She didn't worry about that now. The lessons started getting harder, and she got into more fights with Dash, who never got detention. One day, a week before Halloween, Dani is walking in the hallway, when dash bumps her into a wet paint poster that says 'Happy Halloween'. Black paint got on her purple shirt with a creepy phantom.

Dash says, "Hey, why did you ruin my banner?" Dash smiles.

Dani angrily says, "What are you talking about? You pushed me into your banner."

"What do you mean? I did-" Dani punches Dash before he could finish his sentence.

"You little creep!" Dash said, and starts punching Dani. She dodges with remarkable speed. Dani punches Dash into black paint, which splattered all over Dash's jacket.

Dash gives Dani a murderous look. "You're dead, Scarface." He gets up, and Dani gets ready to beat the crap out of him. Before they start the duel of the death, someone stops them. "Grapes of wrath, you two stop right now!" Mr. Lancer walks up to them. "Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't suspend you two.

Dash says, "Uh, I'm a football star."

True, and Dani, this is your sixth fight in two weeks, most of them fighting Dash, one with Paulina and a food fight."

"Heh heh that was comedy gold, the look on her face."Dani said.

"Right to you, maybe. But I still have to give you some punishment. Next week on Halloween, I got the haunted house again, and I want it to be better than Ms. Tetslafs. So, on Halloween day, I want you two to make a scary house. The scariest room evades detention." He leans close to Dash. "Football star, or not." Mr. Lancer walks off.

"Scary room? That I can do." Dani said.

"You think you can make a better scary room than me?" asked Dash.

"Of course I can. I know my ways of scaring _adults_."

"Oh, yeah? How 'bout a little side bet?" Dash smiles.

"No way, I learned from Danny about your 'little side bets'."

"What, scared?"

"No."

"Then take the bet." said Dash.

"No."

"Take it."

"No!"

"Taaake it."

"NO!" Dani yelled.

"Then you are scared." Dash said, crossing his arms.

"That's it! I accept your bet! If I win, you have to miss one football game."

"What? That's cruel and unusual punishment!" Dash said.

"Scared?" asked Dani with a smile.

"No! If I win, you have to eat the same thing Danny ate when he lost." Dash takes out a ripped up, stinky, old underwear. Dani felt like she was going to throw up.

"I think I'm going to be sick." gagged Dani.

Dash laughs and walks to his class. Dani walks to her last class, but got stopped by Sam.

"Dani, did you do what I think you did?"

"Uh… fought Dash and got paint all over him?" guessed Dani.

Sam frowned. "You just made a bet with Dash. What were you thinking?"

"Hey, don't blame me. He called me a chicken."

"Yeah, but that made Danny sick for two weeks."

"Relax, Sam. Unlike Danny, I actually know fear." Dani said.

"Yeah, Danny thought he knew scary, too. What makes you think you can beat Dash?"

Dani smiles. "You'll see."

* * *

After Dani asked Mr. Lancer if she can start early, she got planning. She looks at all the haunted and scary books she could find, and went to the haunted house at 917 Maple Street, and built all the ghost and spiders out of mechanics and put on texture. She saw Dash come in and go in his room he's working in.

After about a week and a half, Dani is almost done with her room, but she is missing the most fearful thing.

"Wow."

Dani turns and sees that Sam entered the room.

"I've got to hand it to you, this is scary. At least it's not cheesy."

"Thanks, I think." Dani said. "Do you know any really scary things, anything, like a weapon or person?"

"I think I do." Sam pulls out a purple and black book. She opens it to a page and gives it to Dani. Dani reads it aloud. "_In October, Their once was a spirit who haunts Halloween, and he is known as the Fright Knight. Legend says, that if his sword, the Soul Shredder, stabs you, you are transported to your worst fear." _Dani smiles after finishing the paragraph.

"This sounds like the right guy." Dani gives back the book, and Sam puts it back in her pack.

Sam asks, "You're not going to the Ghost Zone and getting the sword, are you?"

"He's in the Ghost Zone?" questioned Dani.

"Um, yeah. Just don't get the sword. Danny went after it, and it ended in disaster, until Danny put the Soul Shredder in a pumpkin."

"Don't worry, Sam. I'll just make a mechanical Fright Knight and make the sword, somehow." Dani said.

* * *

On Halloween day, Dani finished the Fright Night and the Soul Shredder, which is covered in a glowing liquid that makes the sword go through the body without harming it, and causing the person's mind hallucinates and makes the person think he/she is living in their worst nightmare, when it only lasts a minute.

Dani puts the robot on a throne, and put the Soul Shredder next to him. When someone picks the sword, the Fright Night comes to life, snatches the sword, and stabs the person.

She backs up and smiles at her work. Dani turns to her ghost self. She turns intangible and flies to see what Dash made.

In Dash's room, there are stuffed zombies doing exercises and skeletons fighting. Dani smiles at Dash's work. _Wow, he has a bigger mind than me, and this is all he can think of? _thought Dani.

Dani turns and sees Dash in his costume. He is wearing a ripped up leather jacket that's green and white, a shirt with a green skull, ripped up pants, and a green hat with a purple dot. He also has a fake scar on his cheek. Dani guesses he's a zombie. Dani almost laughs, and flies back to her room. She turns back to Dani Fenton, and tests all the contraptions. Dani turns off the lights and starts to leave. She stops, feeling something watching her. Dani turns, but all she sees is shadow. Dani shrugs and leaves the house.

What she doesn't know is someone _is _watching her. A shadow flies off to report to his master.

* * *

**Hours later…**

Dani walks to the house in her costume. She is dressed as a knight, because Dani is going to go in a corner and 'come alive' when Mr. Lancer enters the room. Dani enters the room she is borrowing and checks the time. 10:01. Mr. Lancer should be checking Dash's room.

"Wow."

Dani turns and sees Danny, Tucker, and Sam. Danny walks in, looking around. "This room is great. Who knew you knew all this stuff."

"Thanks." Dani said.

Danny looks around and spots the dark knight on the throne. "Uh…that's not the actual Fright Knight, is it?"

"Don't worry, it's just mechanical." Dani smiles. "How 'bout you take that sword?" She pointed to the Soul Shredder.

"Okay." Danny walks up to the throne. Sam watches and asks, "What happens when he takes it?"

Dani smiles and says, "You'll see."

"Another straight answer." Sam said sarcastically.

Danny stops at the throne, grabs the sword, and pulls it away from the knight. Nothing happened.

Danny chuckles, then asks, looking at Dani, "What's supposed to happen?" He hears creaking behind him, and Danny turns to see the Fright Knight getting p from his throne.

"Fool! You have no right to obtain my Soul Shredder." The Fright Knight grabs the green sword, and raises it up.

"Danny, look out!" Tucker runs and gets in front of Danny. The Fright Knight slices through Tucker. Tucker is surprised that the sword didn't hurt him, and asks, "What just-"Suddenly, Tucker stands up and stares, like he's hypnotized. Danny looks at his friend, and snaps in front of his face, trying to wake him up.

"Dani, what happened to him?"

"Don't worry." Dani said, walking to them. "That sword is covered in a liquid that, when touched, makes your mind think you are in your worst nightmare."

"Just like the real Soul Shredder." Danny said, smiling. "That is genius!"

"Yeah, Dani." said Sam. "You're sure to win."

Danny asks, "So how long is Tucker going to be like this?"

Dani smiles. "Thanks."

Dani looks at the clock. "He should be back in reality right about…now."

Tucker screams, then stops. "Whoa. That was the worst experience since last Halloween. What happened?"

Dani looks at the clock and sees that is almost 11:00. "Looks like my interview is about to begin. You should start Halloween."

"Okay." Danny said. "Good luck." The three friends leave the room, and Dani gets into her position in a corner.

Mr. Lancer opens the door and says, "Okay, Danielle, time to see your haunted room." He looks around to find Dani, but did not find her. "Dani?"

The door slams behind Mr. Lancer. He walks to the middle of the room, wondering where Dani is, and actually getting scared of the decorations.

Dani, in her knight's costume, walks slowly behind the teacher and raises her sword.

Mr. Lancer turns and sees a knight about to make him into shish-ka-bob. His eyes widen a little with some fear. To his surprise, the knight started laughing. The knight puts down his sword while it is still laughing.

"Oh, man. I got you good."

"Danielle?" said Mr. Lancer.

The knight raises its visor and Dani face appears. "Hi, Mr. Lancer."

"Good. Very good." Mr. Lancer writes on his clipboard. "You're off to a good start. What else do you have?"

"Well, if you follow me," Dani leads the teacher to a spot where giant spiders are living. "You will find yourself in the clutches of spiders."

The spiders move and look at the two. They crawl to Mr. Lancer, with foam dripping out of its fangs. He touches one of the spider's legs.

"Very realistic."

The spider pounces to Mr. Lancer, but Dani got him out of the attack.

"Well, I'm certainly scared. A little more and you win by a landslide." Mr. Lancer said. "Anything else?"

"Yep, see that Knight on the throne?" said Dani.

"Yes."

"Take the sword."

Mr. Lancer looks at the glowing sword, walks to it, and picks it up. He waits, and asks, "What's supposed to happen?" He heard creaking, and sees the Fright Knight standing up.

He says, "Fool! You steal my sword, and you face punishment." He grabs the sword from Mr. Lancer, and slices through him. Mr. Lancer stiffens, and stares into outer space, as he goes through his worst nightmare. Dani goes around and checks to see if her robots are working smoothly. A minute passed, and Mr. Lancer wakes up screaming. He calms down, and walks to Dani.

"I have to say, that was the scariest time I have ever experience. You win!"

"Yes!" Dani said. "No detention."

"Yes, congratulation. Now, it's time to open the haunted house." Mr. Lancer opens the door and kids start entering. Dani watches, then walks out to get some candy before she goes home. Dani saw Dash going the other way, with a look all too familiar to her. Dani remembers the look. She had that look when Dani explained how her parents died. Dani thought of what to do, and ran to Dash.

"Hey, Dash!"

He turns and sees Dani running towards him.

"What do you want, Fenturd?"

"I know we made a bet, but how 'bout we just forget it, and…you can go to your game." Dani said.

"Really?" Dash asked.

"Yeah."

Dash smiles. "Thanks. You're not that bad, Fenton." He walks off, ready to get some Halloween candy.

Dani smiles and walks the other way. She takes off her helmet, because it was starting to get hot. She heard rustling behind her, but all she sees is a bush. Dani shrugs, and keeps walking, but she heard the rustling again. Dani creates her sword, and walks slowly to the bush. She pokes her sword in the bush, and a black thing flies out. Dani recognizes the ghost as one of the servants of Zepherus. She turns into her ghost form, and flies off to fight the shadow. The shadow meets Dani and materializes a dagger. They both fight, with Dani winning.

"Why are you here, shadow?" asked Dani.

The shadow smiles. "Don't worry, Phantom. You'll soon find out." He throws a bag at Dani, and it explodes when it hit Dani. She coughed, and rubs it off.

"What was that?"

"Faint bomb." answers the shadow.

"Faint what?" Dani started to feel woozy. "Wh-what was in that bag?"

"Some solid sleeping potion. You'll soon enter dreamland, ghost girl."

He's right. Dani feels tired, and falls down. The shadow catches her as she fell asleep.

* * *

Dani wakes up and finds herself in a jail on wheels. She tries to move her arms, but finds out they are tied up. Dani groans and gets up. She looks around and sees that she is in the Ghost Zone, but not at a place she recognizes. Instead of the green and black surroundings, it was just pure black with a dull, yellow sun, but everything looks sharp. Dani turns and sees a dark castle, which they are heading to.

"Uh, hey. Can I ask where we are?" Dani asked.

Nobody answers.

"Uh, hello? Can anybody tell me where I am?"

Still no answer.

Dani sighs and sits down, waiting to get to their destination. Dani sees a village down the hill, and sees more shadow people, but these shadows look more solid.

After a while, they got to the castle. The gates open, and they enter the castle. More shadows appear, looking at Dani with curiosity and fear.

The vehicle stops, and a shadow with armor on, opens the door. He says, "Come on."

Dani gets out, and the shadow points a sword at her back.

"Get going, stranger." he said. Dani walks to big doors, which opens. A couple more shadow soldiers await Dani. They grab her by the arms, and lead her into a hall.

Dani asks, "Would any of you tell me where I am, and what I did?"

"Quiet, ghost." Was one shadows response. They keep leading Dani down more halls, and stop a grand door. They open, and the guards escort the hybrid into a room.

In the room, there was a throne at the end, with shadow servants and guards. It reminded Dani of a medieval castle. Sitting on the one throne is Zepherus.

Dani glares at him. The guards push her down, then they bowed.

"You are dismissed." Zepherus said to the guards. They depart, leaving Dani with Zepherus.

He says, "Hello, Danielle. Miss me?"

"Zepherus. I was wondering where you went." Dani smiles. "What, too chicken to get me yourself?"

Zepherus ignores the question. "Welcome to the Shadow Realm. I hope your journey was 'pleasant'."

"By pleasant, you mean a shadow making me pass out and taken to a realm by force, then yeah."

The black ghost smiles. "Well, it's good you can still joke around. I will let you live for two weeks before your _execution._"

Dani's smile vanishes. "Execution? Like, death?"

"Yes. _Your _death. Take her to the dungeons!"

A few guards grab Dani, taking her to a hallway. They lead the ghost hybrid down a spiral stairway, the surrounds going from grand to old. At the bottom, Dani saw jails with shadow people in them. The shadows look miserable. Dani saw a woman shadow with, Dani guesses, her child. They look so depressed that Dani felt like crying for them.

"Keep moving." One shadow ghost jab Dani in the back, making her move onward. They stop at an empty jail, and one shadow opens the door, unlocks Dani's shackles, and tosses her into it. She stumbles and turns to see the guard lock the door, and walk off with the rest. Dani examines her surrounding, looking for a weak point. Finding none, she sits down, feeling defeated. In a weak, she is going to die, without her friends, family, and especially Danny, finding out.

"Hey, stranger."

Dani turns and sees a shadow looking at her. He has hazel eyes, to Dani's surprise, and ripped up shirt and jeans, and barefoot. He has long, black hair that goes down to his shoulders, and shadow-black skin.

"What are you here for?"

"Uh…" Dani said. "I don't know why."

"You must have done something bad to the king to be locked up in here." said the shadow.

"King?" Dani asked, confused.

"Yes. You didn't know?"

"I didn't even know there was a king in the Ghost Zone."

"Because there isn't one. This is the king of the Shadow Zone."

"Great."

The shadow asks, "How long will you be staying here?"

"What Zepherus said, a week before my execution."

The shadow flinches, which Dani is confused. He said, "You dare speak the king's name?"

"Huh? What's wrong with saying his name?"

"Nobody has said his real name in a long time. We just call him 'The King'."

"Wow. Reminds me of Voldemort in Harry Potter."

"Voldemort?" the shadow asked.

"It's something the people on Earth watch."

"Oh." A guard comes down the stairs. "Lunchtime." He pushes a plate into all the filled jails. On the plate are bread, meat, cheese, and water.

"Well, at least they serve decent food." Dani said. She makes a sandwich, and eats. When she is done, Dani finds the most comfortable spot on the dirt. "Hey what's your name?"

The shadow says, "Tim. What's your name?"

"Dani Phantom." She puts her head on the ground and falls asleep.

* * *

After a week, or a couple days, Dani couldn't tell what it is, Dani starts to get used to her time in jail. She learned more about Tim, who got sent in jail for leading a rebellion against Zepherus, which Dani thinks, is brave.

A couple guards come down and get prisoners, taking them up the stairs. Some fought, but the guards were too strong. After they got upstairs, they are never seen again. Dani gets more nervous as her time runs out. She tries to break the bars, but they're very durable.

Dani is drawing on the dirt floor, when two guards unlock her jail. One says, "Let's go, ghost." Dani gets up, and walks out. The guard put shackles on her, and takes her up the stairs. Dani tries to go intangible, but couldn't. She guessed the shackles are sucking her powers.

They keep walking up and pass the door. Dani sees the throne room is empty. The guards and Dani walk to a door on the other side. They pass another hall, and open a door leading outside. The ghost hybrid sees the field packed with shadows, along with the shadow king, and a wooden board with a notch in the center. Dani shivers as she remembers a way to execute people. The guards push her to Zepherus. He grabs Dani and pushes her to the wooden death stick. She puts her neck in the notch, waiting to see what will happen next.

Zepherus asks, "So, Danielle, have any last words?"

"Today will not be my death day." She said. "I will escape and find a way to destroy you."

"Such brave words. Too bad it will not come true." The shadow king backs up, and says, "Begin the execution."

A Shadow with a mask walks up, carrying an axe. Dani looks down, a tear coming down her face, as she thought of her friends and family who will never know she died. She misses her brother and all the time they fought together against ghost, and hanging out with her friends.

The executioner raises his axe to behead the ghost girl. Suddenly, a blade is embedded into the executioner. Dani stands up, surprised, as the shadow falls. Zepherus is dumbfounded, and sends guards. They come, but all get blades in their chest. Dani looks up and sees a shadow, dressed like a ninja, on the roof of the castle. He jumps down, and lands next to Dani.

"If you want to live, come with me." he said. The ninja throws another knife at a guard. He grabs Dani and flies off. Zepherus calls more guards, who start shooting at Dani and the ninja. The shadow dodges all of them and throws a bomb down. It explodes, sending smoke all around. Dani hears the shadow king yelling, and Dani smiles for the first time since she got here.

The shadow lands in an alley, and let's go of Dani.

"Thanks." She said. The shadow gets another knife, and cuts the shackles.

"No problem." he said. "Come on. Zepherus will be sending soldiers soon."

The two run out of the alley, and hides at different spots from soldiers.

Dani asks, "Who are you?"

The shadow looks to see if the coast is clear, and runs off, with Dani on his tail.

"My name is Austin." They hide in a closed store. Dani asks, "Why'd you save me?"

"Because there is a prophesy that says a ghost girl will destroy the darkness and save the Shadow Realm."

"What prophesy? Zepherus said there was a prophesy of me destroying his master, but I've got no idea what's he talking about."

Austin starts to walk out, but hides as soldiers come.

"Too many soldiers. We are going to need to blend in."

"How?"

The shadow looks around and sees clothes. He walks to a pair of cloaks, and picks one.

"Come here."

"Uh, I do have a name." She walks up to the shadow.

Austin asks, "Then what is it?"

"Dani Phantom." Dani said. The shadow throws her the cloak he's holding. "Hurry, put this on."

The ghost girl puts the cloak on. Austin takes off his mask, showing his long hair, green eyes, and a handsome face. Austin finds Dani staring at him. "What?"

Dani snaps back to reality. "Oh, uh, nothing. So, are you a ninja or something?"

The shadow picks some clothes, saying, "I am part of the resistance against Zepherus." He walks to a stall and enters. Seconds later, he comes out, looking like a regular teenage boy, except for his blackish skin.

"You look a little young." Dani said.

"Yes. I am the youngest in the team, and the most skilled." He opens the door, telling Dani to follow. She puts her hood on, and follows Austin. She whispers, "Why do you wear the regular clothes and I have to wear a cloak?"

"Because your skin color will give you away, because you are all over the city, see?" he points to a poster, showing Dani with a bounty of a million dollars.

"Wow. Zepherus seems desperate."

"I know. Come on. I will show you the prophesy."

They go through town, following winding roads and passing shops that all look alike. Dani stomach growls and Austin hears her. He enters a shop full of food. He pays a shadow for two sandwiches. He gives one to Dani, and they go back outside. After following the road outside of town, the two stop at an ancient building.

"We are here." Austin said. They enter the building, which is full of tablets. They pass the stones, which Dani is guessing are prophesies. She reads one about a guy fulfilling a quest.

The two stop at one stone tablet, and Austin picks it up and hands it to Dani. She reads the prophesy, surprised at the info.

_A hybrid with the gift of vision_

_Shall face the greatest decision_

_Phantom and Shadow_

_Join to defeat the overshadow_

_The ghost who has sight_

_Shall choose to banish or bring back the light_

Dani gives the tablet back, shivering from puts it back, and sees Dani starting to fall. He catches her, saying, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Dani said, still shivering.

Austin helps her up. "Can you still fly?"

Dani nods. Austin says, "Okay. I will take you o your home. Come on." Austin starts to walk out. Dani follows him. At the door, she looks back at the prophesy, then leaves.


	11. Chapter 10: Finally Home

Chapter 10: Finally Home

Dani and Austin are flying in the Shadow realm, looking for the exit to the Ghost Zone. The two were quiet after leaving the prophesy building. Dani looks at her shadow ally, and asks, "So, how long were you fighting Zepherus?"

Austin looks at Dani, then floats to the ground and sat down. "For 5 years." Austin said.

"Really? How old were you?"

"I was eleven when I joined the resistance"

Dani looks surprised. "Why so young?"

She noticed Austin turn from serious to gloom. "I had a family, like you. My life was normal, until Zepherus came. His soldiers' enters my home, asking for children. My mom said no to them, and they said they'll take us by force. My parents fought against them, along with my brother and sister, but they lost, and the soldiers killed them."

Dani felt sorry for him. She remembers her time when her parents died.

Austin continues his story. "My dad told me to run, so I ran. The soldiers chased me, but I knew all the twist and turns of the town. Soon I lost them. I was an orphan, digging for scraps to survive. I swore to avenge my family and kill Zepherus. After a couple of days, some of the resistance found me. They took me in and trained me to fight. Every day I look for a way to defeat the shadow king, but he is too well guarded. Every time I come close, he is ready for me. No matter what I did, I could never get close." He looks down, looking sad.

Dani stares at Austin, and sits down next to him. "Hey, I know how you feel."

The shadow looks at Dani. "No you don't."

"Yes I do. Zepherus came to my home, trying to kill me."

"Because of the prophesy." said Austin.

"That's what he said. My family fought him, but he was just too powerful. Because of him, the Ghost Portal exploded, killing my mom and dad."

"How did you survive, and why would you need a ghost portal?"

Dani turns into her human form. "Because I'm human."

"So you are a hybrid."

"Yeah."

Austin looks up, seeing the moon rising. "You should get some sleep. I'll take watch."

Dani started to argue, but she sees that Austin wants some time alone. She lies down on the ground and closes her eyes.

* * *

_Dani is flying towards Zepherus, sword in hand. Zepherus smiles. "You think you can defeat me?" He shoots at the ghost hybrid. She dodges the blast and slashes at the shadow king, making a cut on his arm._

_Dani says, "Yeah, I think I can." She blasts Zepherus, but he avoids it._

"_Your death is certain. You're only delaying it." He swings, but is blocked by Dani. They keep swinging at each other. Dani gets some lucky shots, but is mostly getting beat up. Jake comes behind Zepherus, about to shoot him, but got batted away into a building._

"_Jake!" Dani fires at Zepherus, but he dodges and blasts Dani. She swings at the shadow king, but he blocks it and cuts Dani on the leg._

"_Just give up, Danielle. I am more powerful than you." He said._

"_Never!" yelled the hybrid. Flying at full speed, Dani swings at Zepherus with her favorite sword, but Zepherus blocks it with his improved sword. He swings, and knocks Dani's sword out of her hand. Dani looks at the tall ghost, fear in her eyes. Zepherus punches Dani to a roof of a building._

"_Time for your demise, ghost child." Zepherus raises his sword, and brings it down…_

"Dani, wake up."

Dani opens her eyes to see the dull black sky with Austin shaking her. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah. W-why'd you ask?" said Dani.

"You're shivering."

"It's cold out here."

"It's like 70 degrees out here."

Dani sighs. Austin says, "You were having a nightmare, were you."

"I was fighting Zepherus. He knocks my sword out of my hand and punches me to a building. He raises his sword and brings it down. I don't know what happens next." She said the last part looking away from Austin. Dani actually knows what happens next.

Austin gets up, hearing something.

"Come on. We have to keep moving." He helps Dani up, and they both fly.

Dani looks back and sees guards coming out of the village. She looks at the surrounding. Dani sees farms and animals. She sees rivers and beautiful forests. If her life wasn't in danger, she would check out the woods.

They stop at one farm, Dani hiding, and Austin asks for some supplies. The farmer gave him food and drinks.

They went back flying, making sure they are not found. They hid in forests and, once in a while, playing tricks on the soldiers.

We've been looking for Dani for two weeks." said Sam. "Maybe we should give up."

* * *

Danny is walking back and forth in the lab in his house. He looks up at Sam. "What are you saying? I know she is still alive. If you want to give up, go ahead. I'm going to keep searching. Tucker, are you with me?"

Tucker looks up from his PDA. "I don't know, dude. I've been looking around on my PDA, but it's like she vanished from the world."

Jazz, in the corner, asks, "How many times have you checked?"

"Like, fifty times." Tucker said.

Danny punches the wall in anger. "She has to be somewhere! It's not like she-wait, what did you say, Tucker?"

"It's like she vanished from this world. Why?"

"If she vanished from this world," Danny looks at the portal. "Maybe she is someplace _out of this world_."

Sam asks, confused, "Danny, what are you-"she gasps when she realized what he's talking about. "The Ghost Zone?"

Danny nods. Jazz asks, "You think she is in the Ghost Zone?"

"Maybe that's why she is so hard to find, because she's not even in this world." Danny said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get the Specter Speeder and check out the Ghost Zone." Tucker hops into the speeder. Sam gets in, and Danny says to his sister, "If our parents ask where we are, lie."

"You get it." Jazz runs upstairs. Danny turns to his ghost form, and says, "Let's go."

Sam turns on the Specter Speeder, flying into the Ghost Zone, along with Danny.

* * *

The two have been traveling for two days. Dani was starting to lose hope of ever getting home. Dani looks up and sees the sky and ground starting to look green.

"I think we're going to make it." said Dani.

"I think we are." Austin said.

Suddenly, soldiers appear in front of them, along with the shadow king himself. "Going somewhere?"

Dani says, "Yeah, going home." Austin is surprised by her bravery.

"You are goin' nowhere, Danielle." said Zepherus. "Get them!" The soldiers charge at us. Austin gets knifes from his hidden pockets, and Dani makes her sword. They charge and start fighting against the soldiers. At first, Dani and Austin seems to be winning, but Zepherus still has some tricks up his sleeves. He creates shadow beings, which charges them. One tackles Dani, but she cuts him to pieces. The shadow evaporates. Dani keeps fighting against soldiers and shadows, but backs up as she is starting to get outnumbered. Her back hits Austin's back, making him twist and throw a knife at her. She blocks it before it could stab her head.

"Sorry." said Austin.

The soldiers and shadows surrounded them. The soldiers stop, their weapons raised. Zepherus floats in front of them, saying, "I will give you a choice. You two can join me and live your life, have riches you've never known, or you can die at the hands of my soldiers. What do you choose?"

Dani answers, "I will never join you. You killed my family. Why would I follow someone with a black heart?"

"Your courage still surprises me." Zepherus said. "You would make a fine soldier. Too bad you would rather die." He floats back to his spot behind the shadows. "Kill them all."

The soldiers start to close in on the two.

"Well, friend. This looks like the end." said Dani.

"Don't lose faith too soon. I call it the end when I'm at the brink of death." Austin said.

The soldiers are about to throw their spears, when a green blast throws them around. Austin is confused, but Dani thinks the color of the blast looks familiar. She looks up and sees Danny Phantom floating next to the Specter Speeder. Dani smiles at her brother's appearance.

Danny says, "Back off from my sister!" He shoots some more soldiers and shadows. Sam, in the speeder, presses a button, and an ecto-beam gun pops out. She shoots more shadows. Austin charges at the confused soldiers and attacks. Dani takes the chance and attacks the surprised Zepherus. Very suicidal.

Too late did the shadow king see the attack. Dani slashes and made a good size cut across his chest. He floats back, but shrugs the cut. He creates his sword, and the two starts slashing at each other.

Danny, Sam, and Austin attacks the soldiers and shadows until there is no more. Danny turns and sees his sister battling Zepherus, and she looks like she's losing.

"Dani, come on!" yelled Danny. Dani looks like she didn't hear him.

Zepherus feints a right, and Dan fell for it. The shadow king slashes a cut on Dani's knee, and she falters.

Zepherus says, "You have evaded death too long."

Dani smiles. "And I will escape it even more."

Zepherus looks confused. Dani yells, "Now!"

Danny and Sam shoot Zepherus from behind, Austin throwing his knives. The shadow king gets blown down, with knives sticking on his back. He looks up, and sees Dani flying to his brother.

"Give up, Zepherus." Danny said. He charges his ecto energy, getting ready to shoot the shadow king down.

Zepherus says, "I know when I am outnumbered, but I will be back." He vanishes, leaving black smoke.

Dani makes her sword disappear, and turns to thank his brother. Before she could, she got a bear hug from him.

"Whoa, Danny. Can't breathe." gasps Dani. Her brother let's go, saying, "We're glad you're alive, Dani."

"What do you mean?" asked Dani.

"Dani, you've been missing for two weeks." Sam said.

"What?"

"Yeah." Danny said. "Our parents are distraught."

The ghost hybrid groans at hearing the news. Danny comforts her saying, "Hey, it's alright. The important thing is you're safe. C'mon. Let's go home."

They get up, and Dani walks over to Austin.

"Thanks for rescuing me, Austin." Dani said.

"No problem." Austin turns to go back to his home, but says, "Good-bye, Dani Phantom. I hope we meet again."

Dani smiles and floats back to her brother and friends.

* * *

The Fenton's and friends exit the Ghost Zone and walk in the lab of the Fenton's. Danielle and Danny transform to their human self, and walk upstairs.

"Mom? Dad!" Danny called.

They enter the living room, which is empty.

"Huh. Where are they?" asked Dani.

"Probably still looking for you." Danny answered. He walks to the table and picks up a walkie talkie.

"Mom, are you there?" Danny called.

"Danny, is that you?" Maddie said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin's wrong, mom. Just to tell you, I found Dani."

There was a long pause.

"Mom, are you there?" Danny asked. He puts down the radio. "I think she's on her way here."

Dani is nervous. She hasn't seen her parents for two weeks. Dani wondered what they'll do.

After fifteen minutes, Jack runs into the door, falling down after opening it. Maddie hops over her husband, asking, "Where Dani? Is she here?"

"She's here, Mom." Danny said. He called, "Dani, there here!"

Dani walks out of the kitchen. Maddie ran to her, crushing Dani in a bear hug. "Oh. I'm glad you're okay. We've been worried about you."

"Ah, mom. Can't breathe." Dani gasped.

Maddie let go of her daughter, Dani gasping for air. Before she could catch her breath, she got crushed again by her dad.

Dani gasp, "Will I ever get to breathe?"

He let go of Dani. Jack says, "Sorry, Dani, but We were worried sick."

"Yeah," Dani said. "I got that part."

Maddie asks, "What happened to you?"

I got…kidnapped, by some people. They wanted money."

"What? We have to find them! Report them to the police!"

"It's too late. They left when Danny and his friends proved to be too much."

Maddie hugs her again. "Oh, I'm glad you're alright." She let go and hugs Danny. "I'm glad you found her. You must have been brave."

"Yeah." Danny said.

Maddie let's go of Danny, heading to the kitchen. "I'll make dinner. Anything you want, Dani?"

"How 'bout something Mexican?"

"Sure."

"Hey, Dani. Did the kidnappers have good hospitality, or did they treat you like an animal?"

Before Dani could answer, her brother spoke, "Dad, Dani is tired. She should rest."

Jack says, "Okay." Dani walks to her room, and falls onto her bed, glad to lay down on something comfy.


	12. Chapter 11: Looking for the Book

Chapter 11: Looking For a Book

Three weeks later, Dani is back to her regular day. She goes to school, have fun with her friends, and fight ghosts. She meets new ghost, most of them evil. Her life would be perfect, if not for her nightmares.

Every night she sees herself fighting against Zepherus, ending with Dani waking up in cold sweat. Dani keeps telling her it's just a dream, but her dreams look so real. Her parents keep asking what is wrong, she just says nothing is wrong, but her brother can see through her lie. He finds Dani in the hallway, and stops her.

"Dani, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Dani said.

"Dani, I know something is wrong. You look like you haven't slept well."

"What are you talking about? I've been sleeping just fine. Now if you excuse me, I'll be late." She started walking off, but Danny grabs her by the shoulder.

"Dani, you may not want to tell our parents, but you can tell me anything. I won't tell."

Dani sighs. She says, "Fine. Pretty much every night, I have been having these…nightmares. Almost all of them show me fighting Zepherus, and I wake up when it…looks like…he kills me."

"Don't worry, Dani. Their just dreams." Danny said, reassuring.

"I know, Danny, but the dreams look so real, almost like a vision. It freaks me out."

"Dani, everyone gets nightmares. They think they're real, but it never happens" said Danny. "If these keep up, just tell me." He walks to his class, leaving Dani, feeling relieved.

* * *

Dani is eating a burger at the Nasty Burger. Suddenly, she hears a scream. Dani looks around and sees customers running out of the building, along with employees. The ghost girl looks around, and sees shadows running around, scaring people.

_Will they ever give me a break? _thought Dani. She turns ghost and flies out to meet the shadows. When they saw Dani, they went wild.

The shadows charge Dani, but she is ready for them. She creates her green sword and slices the shadows into shadow-ka-bob. Before she could congratulate herself, she got pounced from a shadow behind her. She kicks the shadow and slices it, but more just keep coming. Dani is slicing shadows and shadows. She is starting to get tired. She turns and sees a shadow about to pounce her. Dani gets in a fighting position, but before she battles, the shadow gets blasted. Dani looks up and sees a figure in a red and black techno suit. She is riding a forked hover board.

Before Dani could thank her, she pointed her gun at the ghost hybrid and shoots. Dani dodges it, looking at her like she's crazy. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"My job." she said. She shoots at Dani again and Dani avoid it. Dani thinks that the voice sounds familiar.

Dani asks, "And your job is…"

"Hunting ghost scum's like you." she said.

"Look, I'm not the enemy." Dani moves out of the way as the girl starts shooting. "The enemy is the shadows."

"What shadows?"

Dani points towards some smoke, and the girl sees some black figures scaring. "Fine. I'll take them. Right after you!" Before she could fire, Dani flies off to the smoke to go against the shadows. She makes her sword and cuts through the shadows.

After Dani is done, someone tells her that more shadows are attacking the store. Dani groans and flies to the mall. She finds more shadows, along with Danny. She flies into the battle, and fights the shadows. She gets beat up, and Dani is getting tired of these things.

_This is going nowhere. Looks like it's time to talk Vlad Plasmius. _thought Dani. Slicing through more shadows, she flies towards Wisconsin to find an old friend.

She finds some farms, grassland, all the Wisconsin stuff. Dani flies until dark, and Dani finds a huge mansion. She flies to the porch, and knocks fiercely. A man with grey hair and beard, a fancy black suit, a red bowtie, and a handkerchief in his pocket opens the door.

"What do you want?"

Dani grabs him by the cuffs and asks angrily, "The book. Where is it!"

"What book are you talking about?" ask Vlad.

Dani throws him into his manor. "Don't play dumb with me. I want that book. The book about the shadows that is attacking Amity Park."

Vlad gets up, his body aching. "Look, girl. I have lots of books, but I don't have a book about shadows. Why would someone make a book that's all about shadows?"

Dani creates her sword and walks towards Master's. "I am tired of these shadows attack me and my friends, and I've grown sick of them battling them pretty much every week." She grabs Vlad and puts the sword against his neck. "Now I'll ask again. WHERE IS THE BOOK?"

Vlad gets a better look at the girl. "Ah, now I remember. You're that girl phantom, are you?"

"I don't care if you recognize me. I want to know who stole your book."

"If you put your sword away, and let go of my suit, I will tell you about the book."

Dani hesitates, then let's go of Vlad, disintegrating her sword. Vlad gets up and sits down on one of his chairs.

"So, the book. The book is called 'History of The Ghost'. One chapter tells of a time before the Ghost Zone."

"The Shadow Realm." Dani said.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I've been there." she said, remembering her time at the realm.

"You have?" said Vlad, surprised. "Then you know that it is a miserable place."

"I didn't know it was a time before the Ghost Zone."

"Yes."

Dani thought of the people the people there. Miserable and waiting for a miracle.

"You still haven't answered my question, Vlad."

"Very well. One shadow broke into my manor and attacked me. He took the book and fled. This was before Zepherus introduced himself. I'm guessing it was his idea to steal it."

"Okay." Said Dani, getting impatient. "Do you know where he hid it?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I guess he hid it somewhere in his library."

"Took you long enough." Dani starts to walk out. "Thanks for the info. I can take it from here." Before she walks out of the doors, a hand grabs her on the shoulders.

"I could show you what the book looks like, on one condition."

"Why should I need help from you?" Dani spat.

"You could get a wrong book, a decoy. You wouldn't want that?"

Dani thought this over, then said, "Fine. What do you want?"

Vlad smiles. "I want you to take me to the Shadow realm."

* * *

Dani didn't like the idea of Vlad following her, but he did have a point about the book. Zepherus probably made copies of the book. He probably knew someone would come get the book back. Her worries just keep building.

The two phase into the building and to the lab. Dani was relieved when she found the lab empty. She turns to Vlad, in his ghost form, and asks fiercely, "You're not going to kill me behind my back, are you."

"Why would I kill someone who survived the Shadow Realm? Such an accomplishment, indeed."

"Wait. Survived the Shadow Realm?"asked Dani, confused.

"Yes. Others, beside you, have been to the realm. None have made it back _alive_."

Dani thought of the time Zepherus almost killed her. She thought of Austin, the one who saved her. Dani snaps back to reality.

"Let's just get this over with." She snaps.

Dani and Vlad fly into the Ghost Zone and search for the entrance to the Shadow Realm.

Dani tries her best to remember the way, but she keeps thinking she is going the wrong way. She goes one way; she feels she needs to go the other way.

"Don't let it fool you, Danielle."

Dani turns to see Vlad going the other way. "The gates will tell your mind the other way."

Dani feels he is right. She goes the way Vlad is going, and feels she is going the wrong way again. Dani ignores it and keeps going. She finds a stone that looks like a Christmas tree. Dani knew she was going the right way, even if every molecule of her is saying turn around.

After several hours, or minutes, Dani finally sees the entranceway to the Shadow Realm. The Ghost Zone turns from green to black, and Dani sees farms and black fields.

"We're almost to the village." Dani said.

The two keep flying until Dani sees the beginning of the village. She stops before she enters the town. Vlad stops, confused. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

Still, Dani doesn't move. She looks around and finds a shop. Dani floats to the ground, along with Vlad. He asks, "What are you doing?"

"Soldiers are still looking for me." Dani answered. "We need to find disguises."

"You mean _you _have to find a disguise."

"No. _We. _These shadow people don't like ghost. If they find us, they'll drag us to their king and sell us for I don't know how much." She starts to sneak into the village.

"Fine. You're the one with the knowhow." He sneaks behind Dani.

The ghost girl sneaks into the store and looks around. She smiles. The store is full of cloaks. Vlad enters the store. He looks around and asks, "Why are we in a clothes store?"

Dani picks a cloak about her size and throw one to Vlad. "We need to blend in."

"OK, but won't they think we're suspicious?"

"You ask too many questions." Dani puts the cloak on, along with Vlad. She walks out, calmly, with Vlad behind her, not so calm.

He asks, "Are you sure about this?"

"Stop being such a baby. Just follow me, and act calm." Dani walks off. Vlad follows.

Dani walks down the streets, looking for the castle. She keeps walking, avoiding the soldiers. Vlad asks if he can just fly, but Dani told him that the villagers can't fly. They keep walking, until Dani spots the castle. The two half-ghost stroll to the castle, and hide behind a wall. Dani takes a peek and sees guards blocking the doorway.

"Great. How are we going to get in?"

"Oh well." said Vlad. "Looks like we're going to have to leave." He turns, but Dani stops him. Vlad turns and sees a smile on Dani's face.

"Oh no."

* * *

The guards see a guy in a cloak bringing a girl in black and white clothing with white hair.

"Halt." said a guard. "State your business."

The guy stops, then says, "I am here to take this ghost to Z-" the girl stomps his foot, making the guy stop talking. Thankfully, the guards didn't notice.

"Zzthe king. Yes the king."

The guards look at each other, then moves out of the way. The gates open.

"Thank you." The guy said. The man in the cloak goes inside, along with the prisoner. After they enter, the gates close behind them.

"Did you have to stomp my foot so hard?" asks the man.

"I'm sorry, but if you said the king's name, they would have got suspicious of us." Dani said. "Just be glad we're inside."

Vlad puts his hood down and releases Dani's restraints.

"Okay. Do you know where to go?"

"How would I know?" asks, Vlad. "Aren't you the one who was here?"

"Yeah, but I didn't see much of the castle. Let's just sneak around until we find the library."

The two sneak around, hiding in shadows when soldiers come marching. The two find different rooms, one time finding the king's bedroom. In the room are all kinds of trophies from killed creatures. Dani reminds herself to never look in that room again. They keep searching until they find a tall door. Vlad opens it and sees shelves full of books.

"I think we found it." He said.

Dani turns and hears soldiers marching in their direction. She runs and pushes Vlad inside. She turns and shuts the door before the soldiers could find them. She listens as the marching fades down the hallway. She sighs and looks around.

"Okay. Let's find the book. It's got to be around here somewhere."

"Let's split up." Vlad said. "We can find it faster. Here," Vlad gives Dani a walkie talkie. "When you find the book, call me. The book is called 'History of The Ghost'." He flies in one direction, Dani walking the other way.

Dani sees all kinds of books, big, small, thick, thin, and one Dani guesses has blood. The books come in all kinds of colors. Red, green, blue, gray, even gold. Most of the books are in a different language, but some are in English. Dani looks at all the books, reading the spines. Some she can read says magic and sorcery, and others are about history. Pretty much books you find in a library.

Dani finds a book that says, 'The Dark Arts of Sorcery'. She opens to a page about turning a page about turning someone to something else. Disgusted, Dani closes the book and returns it to its place. She keeps searching, until Dani found a red book with a black outline. She picks the book, reading the title. 'History of the Ghost'. Dani smiles. She grabs her radio and calls Vlad.

"_What is it?"_ asked Vlad.

"I think I found it." Dani said.

"_Okay. Stay where you are and I'll be there in a second." _The radio turns off and Dani waits. After a couple seconds, Dani spots Vlad flying towards her. He lands next to Dani and says, "Let me see the book."

Dani gives him the red book and Vlad checks it. After a minute, Vlad gives the book back. "Here you go. The book about the shadow history."

"Okay. Now we need to leave this place." Dani turns and flies to the doors. Vlad follows and opens the door. They both leave the library and turn to see soldiers surrounding them. "Uh oh."

A guard says, "You're coming with us."

"I don't think so." said Vlad. He splits into four Vlads and fire the closest soldiers. Dani creates her green sword and starts swinging at other soldiers. The soldiers attack, only to get blasted back.

"Vlad. Let's get out of here." Dani said. The Vlad's fly off, Dani close behind. The soldiers follow, but are slowly losing the two ghosts. After they crash through the window, they fly at top speed away from the castle; the guards uselessly throw their swords.

Dani and Vlad fly at the speed of a bullet, zooming past the farms and stopping when they reached the first asteroid in the Ghost Zone.

"Finally…have the…book." Dani panted.

"Well, I should be getting back to my position as mayor." Vlad said. He flies off. "Ta."

Dani watches Vlad fly off. She looks at the book in her hands, wondering what info it holds. She takes off to the Ghost Portal.

* * *

Dani flies into the lab and changes back to her human self. She quietly goes upstairs and sneaks to her room. Dani sees that no one is home. She hopes they're not looking for her again. Dani get's to her room and closes the door. She walks to her bed, and opens the book. She flips to a chapter, reading, '_The shadow king was once a normal human. He visited the Shadow Realm and found chaos everywhere. Death, murder, theft. He tried to keep things in order, but he was stabbed from behind. As he was dying, The Overshadow gave him a choice. He could either die, or live for eternity as his assistant. The king chose the choice to live, and the Overshadow granted him a gift. But it was also a curse. He turned dark, and has control of the dark. The shadow king, with the power of immortality, could never die. There is only one way to kill him. The…' _the rest of the page is ripped off. Dani wondered if Zepherus tore it.

She turns the page and reads on. '_The shadow king has the power to control shadows. The shadows, pure black with red eyes, will follow any command the shadow king. commands. They will destroy, rob, even murder. The shadows have one weakness. Bright light will weaken the Shadows, but not destroy. They can be destroyed by the Dagger of Shadow. The dagger of Shadow is made of solian iron. Only a human can wield Dagger. But the human must show strength, patience, and courage to be honored to wield. The guardian will show you the way. Do not be deceived with age_'.

Dani finishes the paragraph, confused. _The Dagger of Shadow? Huh. Sounds powerful, but 'do not be deceived with age'? _Dani thinks this over, whether to go after this Dagger or just fight the shadows.

Dani bookmarks this page and telling herself to show this to Danny.


	13. Chapter 12: The Dagger of Shadow pt 1

Chapter 12: The Dagger of Shadow part 1

Danny walks out of the Nasty Burger, feeling tired. Suddenly, he gets run over by his sister, Dani.

"Ugh. Dani, what are you doing?"

"I think I found a way to destroy the shadows." she said.

Confused, Danny says, "I told you. Bright light destroys them."

Dani shakes her head. "Bright light _weakens _them, but not destroy." Dani brings out a red book out of her pack. She gives it to Danny and he reads the title. 'History of the Ghost'.

"How would a history book help?" Danny asked.

"Turn to the page I marked."

Danny opens the book and finds the marked page He reads the chapter, not believing what he's reading.

"So this 'Dagger of Shadow' can destroy shadows permanently? "

"I'm guessing yes."

"Well, how are we going to get it? It says you will need to pass some challenges, and they sound tough." Danny looks at his sister, a smile creeping up her face.

"Oh no, you're not serious?"

"How else are we going to find it? Ask a shadow 'hey we're looking for a dagger that can destroy shadows. Can you show us where it is?'" said Dani sarcastically.

"Okay. Got any brilliant ideas?"

"Well, I say we find the guardian and look for the Dagger."

"Okay. Find the guardian. Check. But this book says 'don't be deceived by age'. What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Dani said. "But I think we'll find him or her"

Danny looks at the book, wondering if this blade is worth the trouble. He sighs, then says, "We should tell Sam and Tucker about this."

"Sounds like a good idea. There's just one problem: where are they?"

"I thought they were with you."Danny said.

"I thought they were with you." said Dani.

"Or maybe they're right behind you."

Danielle and Danny turn to see their two friends.

"So, what do you want to show us?" asked Tucker.

"Here; read this." Dani throws Sam the book. Sam reads the passage, then gives it to Tucker.

"Wow. I didn't know shadows could be destroyed." He gives the book back to Dani. Sam says, "I'm guessing we're going to find the Dagger, am I right?"

"You got that right."

Sam turns to Danny. "You comin'?"

"You're going?"

"Of course. I'm always ready for a challenge."

Dani says, "At least I'm not the only one who's coming."

"Are you going, too?" Danny asks Tucker.

"Yeah. This sounds exciting."

Danny smiles. "All right. I'm coming, too."

Dani asks, "What made you change your mind?"

"Well, someone has to keep you out of trouble."

"Whatever. You're the one who gets in trouble."

The four start walking to Fenton's Work. Danny says, "That's a big lie."

"Actually, she's sort of correct." Sam said.

"Whatever."

* * *

In the lab, Dani, in her ghost form, is telling Danny, Sam, ad Tucker about the shadow realm.

"We're going to have to be careful. The people there will attack us and sell us t Zepherus, and he has a grudge, and would like to kill me himself."

"Okay. So when we enter the Shadow Realm, we will have to disguise ourselves and not act suspicious." Sam said. "Sounds easy."

"Uh, what about humans?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, but we should be careful, just in case." Dani said. "So, you ready?"

Danny, in his ghost half, says, "Let's go."

Dani flies into the Ghost Zone. Sam turns the Specter Speeder on and flies after Danielle, closely followed by Danny.

Dani leads Sam, Tucker, and Danny deeper into the Ghost Zone. Her mind is telling her to go the other way, but she knows this is the way. Danny, Sam, and Tucker think they're going the wrong way.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Tucker.

"Yes, I'm sure."

Danny says, "I think the Shadow Realm is that way." He points in the opposite direction.

"Just follow me. Not your conscience." Dani said.

They keep flying in a direction. Every molecule of Dani is screaming the other way, but Dani keeps her route. The green walls turn to black skies and black grass appear.

"Wow." said Sam. "This place I could get used to."

Dani keeps flying, followed by the others, past farms and fields of wheat. She stops and floats down behind a store, and enters it. Danny touches down, wondering what his sister is doing. Sam parks the Speeder and climbs out, followed by Tucker.

Sam asks, "Do you know what she's doing?"

"I've got no clue." answered Danny. Dani comes out with cloaks in her arms.

"Here." Dani throws each a cloak. "These should disguise us pretty well."

Everyone puts their cloak on. Dani says, "We should split up. One or two cloaked people seem to be normal here, but four will probably be suspicious. Danny, you go with Tucker in that direction, " Dani points down the road. "While Sam will go with me in the other direction." The ghost girl takes out radios and gives one to Danny. "Call us if you find the guardian."

"Yes sir." Tucker said, sarcastically.

"Ha ha."

Danny and Tucker go down the road, and Dani and Sam go down the other road. The two girls look around to find anyone suspicious. To Dani, that is everyone. She repeats the words from the book: _Do not be deceived with age. What does it mean by age? _Thought Dani. She looks around to try to find the guardian, but no luck. She tells Sam to check an area, and Dani looks around the plaza, but everyone looks the same. As she starts to lose hope, she spots a little girl, about 9 or 10, walking around. Unlike everyone else, she looks calm. _Do not be deceived with age. _Dani looks around, then walks to the girl.

"Hey, can I talk to you, privately?"

"Of course." she said. The two walk out of the plaza, and goes into an alley. Dani asks, "This may be a weird question, but do you know about the Dagger of Shadow?"

"Of course, Ghost girl." said the girl.

"You…know me?" Dani asked, confused.

"Yes. I know you also came with two friends and your brother."

"So…you're the guardian."

The girl nods. "My father entrusted me with the position when his time was up. I have guarded it and waited for the one to wield the Dagger."

"So, what's your name?"

"You can call me Emily." she said.

Could you come with me? The others are waiting."

"Sure."

The two walk down the road. Dani calls Sam on the radio, telling her to meet everyone at the speeder. After a couple of minutes, Dani sees her brother and friends by the Specter Speeder. Sam spots Dani, and says, "There she is."

Danny and Tucker turn around. Danny says, "Where were you, Dani? I was trying to call you, but you wouldn't pick up. I was getting worried."

"What are you talking about?" Dani asked. "I never got a call. The only time I used the radio is to tell Sam to meet us here."

"What? How can you not-"

"Sorry to interrupt," Sam said. "But we do have a visitor here."

Danny notices Emily for the first time. "I'm guessing you're the guardian."

"Yes, I am." Emily said.

Tucker asks, "How can you be the guardian? You look about 9 years old."

"Exactly Tucker." said Dani. "The book said 'do not be deceived with age'."

"Oh. Right. Forgot about that."

"So," Danny said. "Can you tell us about the Dagger of Shadow?"

"Of course. Please, make yourself comfortable." said Emily. Danielle and Sam sit on the ground, and Danny and Tucker sit in the speeder.

Emily starts her story…

_Long ago, before the ghost and the Ghost Zone, there lived the Shadow Realm. We, the Shadonians, lived in a happy life. _Dani not only heard the story, but saw the story as well. The images played in front of her eyes as Emily tells the story._ Until the Overshadow came. He sent his lieutenant, the shadow king, to keep us in his rule. After he got control of the shadow Realm, the shadow king made our lives miserable. He took our family members to be made to mindless soldiers, killed the innocent, and destroyed friendly territories. His rule spread around the Shadow Realm, until he took the risk of taking over the homes of the ghosts. He tried to take over the ghost Zone with an army of Shadonians and shadows, but their ruler, Pariah Dark, fought against the Shadow king, and defeated him. The shadow king fled back to his home, vowing to return. The ghost king ordered a couple of ghost inventors to create a weapon to destroy shadows permanently. _

_One inventor had the power of sight. He told his friends to make the blade out of solian iron, the rare metal of the Shadow Realm. They made the dagger, and one of the inventors's fused it and enchanted it with his sorcery. _

_They presented it to Pariah Dark, warning him that only a human can wield it. Pariah Dark ignores the warning, and when the shadow king attacks, the ghost king picks up the blade, and it burned his hand. The inventors presented an alternative weapon: the ring of rage and the crown of fire. Together, Pariah Dark defeated the shadow king again, but lost lots of lives, his life close. The ghost king ordered the sorcerer to make a barrier to keep the shadow king in his realm. The sorcerer went to the connection between the Shadow Realm and the Ghost Zone, and made an enchantment to make Shadonians and ghost to turn around._

_The Dagger of Shadow was lost, with only a very few to know its location. It waits in his location, creating guardians to test the ones who search for the dagger. The location lies within the guardian, which is passed down for generations. At some point, the Dagger of Shadow was lost in history, never to be found until the wielder comes._

Emily ends her story.

Everyone is quiet. Sam broke the silence, saying, "That is…quite a story."

"I didn't know Pariah Dark has a grudge with the shadow king." said Danny.

"Maybe he can help us defeat the shadow king." Tucker suggested.

"Hah. After our first encounter with him, unlikely." Danny said.

"You've met this Pariah Dark before?" asked Dani.

"Yeah, and it wasn't a friendly talk."

"He tried to take over Amity Park, but Danny stopped him." said Sam.

Emily says, "He wasn't like that all the time. He was actually a great king, but the shadow king changed him after the battle."

"So, back to the Dagger of Shadow: will you tell us where it is?" asked Dani.

"Yes, I will tell you where it is. But only one may go."

"I will." said Dani.

"No! This is too dangerous, Dani." Danny said.

"Danny, I have to do this. There is a reason I'm having these dreams. I'm the wielder of the Dagger of Shadow."

"Just because of nightmares? Dani, this is suicide. You could get killed."

"I'm going."

"No you're not." Danny turns to Emily. "Emily this is crazy. Tell her she can't do it."

Dani is steaming. She knows it's her that has to get the Dagger and destroy Zepherus.

Emily says, "It's not my choice to tell who can go. If she wants to do it, she can."

Danny turns back to his sister. "Dani, I am forbidding you to go."

"NO!" Dani yelled. "I'm going and there is nothing you can do about it." She turns to the guardian. "Where's the Dagger of Shadow?"

"Yes, little one. I think we all want to know the location."

Everyone turns to see an army of shadows and Shadonians pointing their weapons at the five kids and Zepherus in front of them all. "And when you tell us, we'll kill you painlessly."

* * *

Cliffhanger. Oooohhhh


	14. Chapter 13: The Dagger of Shadow pt 2

Chapter 13: The Dagger of Shadow part 2

Dani looks around at the army surrounding her and her friends. She turns to Zepherus, and says, "Well, looks like the little shadow is out of his hole. Got bored and wanted to watch me escape death once again?"

"Actually, I wanted to know where the _wretched _weapon is, and to see your friends die, along with you by my hand." Zepherus said.

"Well, good luck," Dani creates her sword. "Because I don't easily die, even by you"

The shadow kings laugh. "You want a challenge? Then I'll give you a challenge." He unsheathes his sword and yells, "Charge!" The army yells and runs towards the four.

Dani flies towards the oncoming soldiers, slicing the shadows and knocking the Shadonians. Danny shoots the army, Tucker and Sam blast with their improved wrist rays, now can blast shadows to pieces, and Emily calmly knocks a shadonian and takes is spear. She jabs and spears shadows and injures Shadonians.

Dani dashes towards Zepherus. He waits calmly, and when Dani is in range, He swings his sword. Dani blocks the swing and cuts at the king. He lets Dani cut him across the chest, and kicks Dani to the ground. The ghost girl crashes on the ground, painfully. She groans, then gets up and attacks Zepherus again. They swing and block over and over, trying to slice each other like cheese. While the two are slicing, a battle rages on the ground. Danny blasts back the Shadonians. Shadows piled on top of the ghost hybrid, but he lifted all of them and froze all of the shadows. Danny throws the shadowcicles at other shadows, dissipating all of them. Sam runs to the speeder and gets an ecto-bazooka and starts shooting every shadow. Tucker gets two wrist rays and a gun, and shoots all the Shadonians and shadows surrounding him.

Dani, with a couple cuts all over her body, slashes at Zepherus across his face. He clutches his eye, now bleeding.

"Ever heard the expression 'an eye for an eye'?" asked Dani.

"Even with my vision clouded, I will still finish my mission." Zepherus charges, and slams into the ghost girl. She falls into the ground, next to the group, who fell into a circle surrounded by shadows. Danny turns and sees his sister in pain.

"Dani!" He runs next to her, and helps her up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Dani groaned.

"Okay." He looks around at the soldiers still advancing. "I want you to cover your ears when I tell you."

Dani looks up, confused. "What do you-"

"Well," Everyone looks up and sees the shadow king slowly floating down, his eye still bleeding. "Such a valiant effort. All of you could make great soldiers. Too bad you'll all get killed now." The soldiers start advancing.

Danny smiles. "Actually, I still have a trick up my sleeves. Now!" He takes a deep breath, Dani, Sam, and tucker covering their ears, and lets out a loud wail so powerful you can see the green waves. The shadows dissolve, the shadonians armor crumple and the Shadonians get blown back, and Zepherus covers his ears, the wail throbbing. He gets blown back and crashes onto the ground.

Danny stops his wail and reverts back to his human form. He collapse, and Dani catches him before he can land on his face. She asks, "What was that?"

"A ghost power called the Ghostly Wail." answered Sam.

"A rare power that only a few ghost have." said Danny.

"Do you think I have it?" asked Dani.

"I have no idea." Danny said.

"Nice trick, ghost boy,"

Everyone looks and sees Zepherus getting up. "But that will not stop you from death."

Shadows appear, this time twice as many. They surround the four, snarling. Dani looks around. The odds: not good.

Sam and Tucker charge up their weapons. Sam asks, "Do you think we can escape this?"

"I don't know." said Dani.

Zepherus smiles, and yells, "Attack!"

Before the shadows could attack, a guitar note sound plays, and a purple blast appears, dispersing about fifty shadows. Dani looks up and sees a friend floating above them.

"Ember!"

Ember looks down, smiling. "Hey, Dani. Looks like you need some help." She floats down next to Dani. The ghost girl says, "It won't matter, even with your help."

"Did I tell you I brought some friends?" Ember whistles, and reinforcements appear. Cujo, in his bulldog form, charges shadows, Pandora appears and fires beams, Frostbite and the Far Frozen charges the 3-D darkness, and Dora, in dragon form, emits blue fire.

"Wow." Dani said.

"So, you ready to kick some shadow butt?" asked Ember.

"You bet." Dani puts down her brother. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, Dani. I'll be fine."

"Okay." Dani charges some shadows and Ember blast other shadows with her guitar. Thanks to the element of surprise, the shadows went wild. Cujo chews some shadows, and pounces. Frostbite freezes, and Pandora unleashes some evil from Pandora's Box, like the ten-headed hydra.

Zepherus fought off the ghost, but soon gets surrounded. Dani floats to the middle of the circle. "Well, shadow king, looks like you're outnumbered. Surrender and you'll be spared."

Zepherus lowers his weapon. "I yield, but I will come back." He throws something on the ground, and black smoke. When the smoke clears, the shadow king is gone. Dani's sword disappears, then turns to her friends. "Thanks for the help."

"You are welcome, Dani Phantom." said Frostbite. He flies off, along with the Far Frozen, back to the Land of the Far Frozen. Everyone else flies back to their home, but Ember stays behind. Dani feels something on her leg and finds Cujo, in his puppy form, clawing for attention. Dani picks Cujo up and scratches behind his ear. Cujo licks Dani on the face. The ghost girl laughs and puts the puppy down. Cujo flies off back to the Ghost Zone.

Dani turns to her friends, and asks, "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine, Dani." Sam said. "Just a few scratches."

"Looks like I got here just in time." said Ember.

Dani looks around for Emily but can't find her. "Hey, where's Emily?"

Everyone looks around, but can't find the Shadonian guardian. They start calling for her, but she doesn't answer. Dani looks around, yelling her name. "Emily? Emily, where are you?" She looks behind the Specter Speeder, and finds Emily on the ground, unconscious. "Emily!"

The ghost hybrid runs towards the child. "Guys, I found her!"

Everyone looks around the speeder and find Dani picking Emily up.

"Get her in the speeder." Danny said, opening the door of the speeder. Dani enters the Specter Speeder and puts Emily on a table in the back. She examines the guardian, and finds a wound across her left arm. Dani opens a compartment, and Danny starts the Specter Speeder. The speeder rises and shoots off towards the exit. Dani puts ointment across Emily's scar. Emily flinches, but doesn't wake up. The ghost girl wraps her arm with cloth bandages. After she's done, Dani puts a blanket on her and lets her rest. Dani walks to the front, and asks, "So, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to go home and take a break from the near death experience." answered Danny.

"Hopefully we don't have any _excitement _on our break. I really need it." Sam said.

Dani looks back at the sleeping guardian. "Yeah. A break."

* * *

After they pass the Fenton portal, Danny shuts the power and exits the vehicle. Everyone else follows, and Dani gets Emily. They climb the stairs and find the kitchen empty. Sam goes to the table and picks up a note. She gives it to Danny, who reads it, "_Dear Jazz, Danny, and Danielle, We have left for a ghost convention for three days. There is food in the fridge. Your Dad says not to eat the fudge. If you have any problems, call us. From, Maddie._"

Danny puts the note back onto the table. "Well, looks like we have the house to ourselves for three days."

Dani walks to the fridge. "I don't care what dad says, I'm having a piece of fudge." She opens the door and takes out one piece of fudge.

"You sure? Dad might find out."

Dani eats her fudge. "What dad doesn't know won't hurt him."

Everyone walks into the living room. Ember crashes on the couch, and in no time, starts to snore.

"I don't know about you, but I'm following Embers idea." Tucker said. He drops onto the couch and falls asleep. Dani walks up the stairs and enters her room. She lays Emily across her bed, and gets a sleeping bag. Dani puts it next to her bed, and lay down. She hears the door opens and she gets up to see Danny at the door.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" asked Danny, referring to Emily.

Dani looks at her, still unconscious. "I hope so. She's our only source to the Dagger."

Danny, too tired, didn't argue. "Well, goodnight." He leaves, closing Dani's door. She turns off the light, and lies down on her sleeping bag.

* * *

_Dani is walking in the dark. She can't see her hand in front of her face. Suddenly, a bright light appears behind her. Dani turns and sees a light. She walks towards it, and sees the source of the light. A dark blade. Confused, Dani walks to the blade. Suddenly, a voice surrounds her mind. _

"_Your journey will soon begin, young one." Dani looks around for the source, but can't find it._

"_It will be perilous, but you have spirit to survive."_

"_Where are you? Show yourself." Dani said._

"_Don't you know who I am, Danielle?"_

_Dani turns her head to the blade. "The Dagger of Shadow?"_

"_Yes. The famous blade, lost in history."_

"_Why are you here?" asked Dani._

"_To tell you about the evil growing."_

"_You mean Zepherus?"_

"_No. He is only a pawn. A much greater evil is rising. Only you have the power to stop it."_

"_Why me?" Dani is confused. "I'm only fourteen. How can I stop this evil? What if I can't stop it?"_

"_Why don't I show you what would happen if you failed." Suddenly everything went dark and cold. Sadness, anger, despair surrounds her. Dani feels like curling into a ball and slowly fade._

"_The prophesy tells of the Overshadow. He fears of being destroyed by a diviner."_

"_A diviner?"_

"_A rare talent to see into the future. A very few are diviners, and you are one of the few."_

"_I'm not a diviner! I'm just a regular teen." said Dani._

"_Are you sure you are a regular teenager?"_

"_Well, not exactly."_

"_And you haven't had any strange happenings, like vivid dreams?"_

"_Actually, yeah, I've been having nightmares, and I saw the event when Emily was telling her story, like I was there."_

"_All the signs of a diviner. You also have power that even the Overshadow cannot imagine."_

"_Like what?" asked Dani._

"_All in due time. But Without you, and me, nothing will be able to stop the Overshadow." The light fades away and the blade vanishes._

"_Wait!" the darkness envelop Dani, crushing her in despair…_

Dani wakes up in cold sweat. She takes deep breaths, calming herself down.

_Why am I having these dreams? _Dani asks herself. Can't think of an answer, she gets up and looks at her bed. Nothing but blankets. Guessing she's downstairs, Dani changes. The hybrid goes downstairs to see everyone at the TV

"Hey. Whatcha watchin'?"

Danny turns. "Dani, you're awake." He turns back and picks up the controller. "You need to see this."

Danny walks to the couch. On the TV, Lance Thunder is talking about something. In the back, shadows are creating terror. Danny turns the volume up, and Lance says, "Why am I doing this? I'm the weather reporrrraah. All around us, there are creatures as black as shadow. They seem to want attention, scaring people all around. Well, they certainly got my attention." Shadows appear on the screen. "Not the face! Not the face!" The screen goes to stand by.

"These shadow attacks are getting worse." Sam said. "We have to do something to stop this."

"What are we going to do? Build a shadow proof force field and spread it around Amity Park?" suggested Tucker.

"No, but I think I know what will get rid of them." said Dani. "Does anyone know where Emily is?"

Danny points towards the kitchen. "She is the kitchen. What are you-" before he could finish, Dani runs into the kitchen. She sees the guardian eating some cereal.

"Hey, Emily. Are you okay?" asked Dani.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Dani sits next to Emily. "What happened, anyway?"

"A shadow snuck behind me, and then I felt a stinging pain across my arm. I got pushed and hit my head on your speeder, knocking me out."

"I'm glad you're okay, but I need something from you."

"The location of the Dagger of Shadow."

"Yeah. Where is it?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? Much stronger men have gone for the Dagger. None returned."

"I need to go after the Dagger. I'm the one to wield it." said Dani

"No way."

Dani turns to see her brother entering the kitchen."You are not still thinking of going after the Dagger."

"Danny, I have to."

"Why? Because Zepherus tried to kill you, so it means you're the one to wield it?"

"No! Danny, I had a dream. The Dagger was in it and it told me I have the power to stop the Overshadow."

"What power?" Danny asked.

"I don't know? But the Dagger told me without it, darkness will envelop the world, causing despair all around."

"Dani, this is too dangerous."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to go after it." Dani turns to Emily. "Where is it?"

Emily gets up. "Are you sure you want to take the challenge?"

"Yes."

"Okay. If we go to the specter speeder, I will show where the Dagger of Shadow is. But be warned: once you enter, you can't go back, and you have to face challenging trials."

Dani thinks if this is all worth it. She says, "I'm ready."

Emily says, "Okay. I will show you the location."


	15. Chapter 14: The Trials

Chapter 14: The Trials

Back in the Shadow Realm, the six friends stand next to the Specter Speeder, facing a cave.

Emily says, "Here is the entrance to the altar of the Dagger of Shadow."

Ember examines the cave. "Looks like an entrance to a dragon." She turns to her friend. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Dani, you can't do this. Nobody has made it out alive. You could get killed." said Danny.

"Don't worry bro. I'll be fine." Dani said, reassuringly.

"But there's got to be another way to defeat this Overshadow."

"Danny, it's the only way. Without the Dagger of Shadow, we're all doomed."

Danny sighs. "But-" Sam puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She says, "Danny, I think it's the right thing to do."

"Fine." said Danny.

Sam turns to Dani. "Go on ahead. We'll be waiting here for you."

Dani nods. She turns to the cave. "Well," She gulps. "Here goes nothing." Dani walks to the cave. Before she enters, Dani remembers Emily saying that only a human can wield the Dagger, she changes into her human form, and enters.

As soon as she enters the cave, darkness surrounds her. Dani gets ready for the feelings to start, but unlike her dream, the cave is just dark. Can't see where she's going, Dani moves on.

After hours, or minutes, Dani sees a light ahead. The hybrid walks to it, and she enters a large cave. Crystal lights on the wall light up the cave. Dani sees a sword at the end of the tunnel. She grabs it and enters the cave. The caves ceiling is so high, Dani can't see the top. At the other end of the cave, a stone door blocks the exit.

"Welcome, traveler."

Dani looks around to find the voice, but doesn't see the source. She says, "Where are? Show yourself!"

Suddenly, the tunnel she came out of closes. Dani spins around, wondering what will happen next. The voice from nowhere says, "To proceed, you must defeat the guardian."

"What guardian?" asked Dani.

Suddenly, a shadow falls from the ceiling. Dani jumps out of the way to prevent from being smashed to a pancake. She looks at the shadow. Unlike the other shadows she fought with, this shadow is much larger, has spikes all over him, and he has a giant axe in his hand.

"Oh man." Dani said. The giant swings his axe at Dani. She flips back to avoid being cut in half. The giant swings his axe again, this time with the flat side of his axe, and bats Dani to a wall. She groans as she slides down the wall. Dani looks up and sees an axe coming down to her. She blocks it with her sword just in time. The giant pushes on his weapon, getting the blade closer to Dani's face. Sweat pours down Dani's face as her strength diminishes. As the hybrid thought of her end, she remembered what would happen if she failed. The pain, sadness, despair, all the bad feelings the Overshadow will release. The memory fill her with new strength, and with a roar, she pushes the blade away from her face, and pushes the shadow back. He stumbles, a look of surprise on his face. Dani jumps and swings her sword at the shadow. A cut appears on his chest. He swings at Dani, but Dani leaps over the axe and runs up his arm, avoiding his spikes. The shadow tries to grab her, but the hybrid jumps up. Dani falls back to the shadow, slashing her sword. The shadow's head falls to the ground, and his body collapse. Dani flies off his body, and watches it disintegrate into thin air.

Dani pants heavily, surprised she survived. Dani hears a grinding noise, and turns to see the stone door rising to reveal another tunnel. She turns and sees the other tunnel opening.

"You have passed the first test. Go forward, but be warned, once you have passed the exit, there is no turning back."

Dani looks at the tunnel she came from, thinking if she should go back. But she remembered the others are counting on her to get the Dagger of Shadow.

Dani sighs, and walks onward, to the second test.

* * *

After traveling through a long tunnel, she came to another cave like the other one, but smaller. After she passes into the cave, the passageway behind her closes.

"Welcome to the second test. If you want to proceed, you must wait for the water to fill the bowl."

Dani turns and sees a bowl in the middle of the room. Water starts to fall from the ceiling, making a small waterfall.

"Wait for the water to fill the bowl? You've got to be kidding me! I'm sort of on a deadline here."

"You must wait, until the water fills the bowl."

Dani sighs. "Fine. Sounds easy, anyway."

"Do not take this trial lightly. Men went insane and killed themselves from waiting."

Dani groans. She walks around, examining the rock in the cave. She looks at the crystals, wondering how light is emitting. After a while, she started getting impatient. Dani waits, and waits, and waits. She starts to try to cut the door, but she got tired, and was surprised she doesn't see a scratch on it. Dani calms down, and sits next to the bowl. She closes her eyes, and takes deep breaths. After a while, Dani started to feel tired, and fell into a dream. In her dream, she sees herself getting the Dagger, fighting of Zepherus, meeting a pale skinned ghost, and shadows envelops her, red eyes appearing and a smile creeping in his face. Dani wakes up, wondering who that shadow was. Even in her dream, he still felt powerful. Dani hears a different sound: a dripping from behind her. Dani gets up and turns to see the bowl fill to the brim with water. After a couple more drops of water, the water stops, and the voice appears.

"You waited patiently, and have passed the test. You may go on."

The door opens. Dani walks to it, and enters another tunnel. After winding through the passageway, she found herself in a cave like the first cave she entered.

"I wonder what this test will be." Dani asked herself. Suddenly, she heard a voice too familiar to her.

"Hello, Danielle."

Dani turns to find the person. The door closes behind her, leaving her to fight the shadow she dreads. Dani finds him at the other end of the cave. Zepherus smiles wickedly at the girl.

"I have been waiting for you."

"What are you doing here?" Dani asked. She raises her sword, but Zepherus snaps his finger, and the sword vanished.

_Oh__great.__Maybe__I__can__still__defeat__him__without__it._Dani thought. Suddenly, two more shadow kings appear. Dani's eyes widen as they walk up to her. She backs up, afraid of what they're going to do next. One Zepherus raises his sword, and swings it down. Dani dodges it, but she still got a good size cut on her arm. She screams, and crashes onto the ground.

"Well, at least I know it's real." Dani said to herself. She gets up from the ground, and looks at the shadow kings walking towards her. Dani runs towards them, fear reaching a breaking point. The Zepherus's laugh and start punching her. Dani crashes into the wall, groaning. One picks up Dani and resumes using her as a punching bag. Zepherus grabs her and throws her on the ground, painfully. Groaning, Dani gets up. One Zepherus, sword in hand, walks towards her.

"You're no match for me. Your parents died by my hands. They were weak, and so are you."

Anger rises inside Dani. She gets up, despite the pain, and waits. Zepherus raises his sword, and brings it down, but stops abruptly. Dani is cupping the blade between her hands. She starts to glow a faint light. Dani twist the blade until Zepherus drops it, gripping his hand. The hybrid grabs the sword and swings it at Zepherus. He dissipates. Dani faces the other two shadow kings, new courage strengthening her. She charges. The first Zepherus swings his sword, but Dani blocks it and cuts him in half. The other Zepherus sneaks behind her, but Dani twirls and slices at Zepherus. He blocks, and Dani kicks the sword out of his hand. She punches the shadow king, and he stumbles onto the ground. He looks up to find the point of a sword at his face.

"Say goodbye." Dani said.

"Now, Danielle, let's be reasonable. You don't have to-" Dani slices Zepherus. He disintegrates into thin air.

Dani turns and sees the door rising. She walks to the entrance to a passageway. Her sword vanishes, and Dani walks into the dark.

Unlike the other tunnels, this one was short. When she got to the end of the tunnel, Dani found a room brightly lit. At the end of the room is an altar with something at the top. She walks up the stairs to the object. Suddenly, a voice in her head says, "_I__have__been__waiting__for__you._"

Dani continues to climb the stairs, getting a closer look at the object.

"The Dagger of Shadow." said Dani.

She gets to the top, the blade in front of her. Dani reaches towards it, and grabs the handle. She pulls, and the Dagger slips out of the rock easily. The blade glows, then diminishes. The Dagger is pure black, and the handle has a soft grip. It fits comfortably in Dani's hand. Wondering where she should put the blade, a scabbard of pure black leather appears on the altar. She grabs it and sheathes the Dagger. Dani attaches it to her waist, and walks out of the cave. When she enters the cave she battled Zepherus, Dani unsheathed the Dagger and examines it. The blade seems to glow an unnatural light. As she looks at the Dagger, a voice speaks, "_We__meet__again,__Danielle._"

Dani twirls around to find the voice, holding the blade in her hand. The voice sounds familiar to her. Not finding anything, she slowly walks away into the tunnel. Dani walks past the second cave and comes to the first cave she found. She cautiously examines the room for any other shadow guardians.

"_Do__not__be__afraid.__There__are__no__shadows__in__here._"

Surprised, Dani looks around for the source. Her head slowly turns to the blade in her hand.

_No.__That__'__s__crazy.__Daggers__don__'__t__talk._thought Dani.

"_But__I__can__talk,__Danielle._"

Dani almost dropped the blade in surprised. "How can you talk?"

"_I__only__talk__in__your__mind.__Only__you__will__be__able__to__here.__And__I__can__talk__because__of__the__magician.__As__he__fused__me__together,__he__created__me__a__mind__so__I__can__choose__my__wielder._"

"Why me?"

"_I__have__told__you.__You__have__power__the__Overshadow__cannot__imagine._"

"I hope you're right." Dani said. She continues to walk out of the cave. She travels through the tunnel and exit into the light. Dani finds her friends by the Specter Speeder. As she walks to them, the first one to spot her is Danny.

"Danielle!" He ran towards her and gave her a bear hug. The others run to them, and congratulate Dani for surviving. Emily walks over and says, "Congratulations."

"So," Tucker said. "Did you get the Dagger?"

Dani takes the dagger out of its scabbard and showed it to her friends.

Everyone said, "Wow."

"So, this blade will destroy the shadows permanently?" asked Danny.

"I think so." Dani said.

Suddenly, everyone heard a low growling from behind them. They turn and spot a shadow the size of a gorilla. The shadow charges them, and everyone jumps out of the way. Sam and Tucker hide inside the speeder, along with Emily, and Danny goes ghost. He blasts the shadow, but the beam bounces off the shadow's hide. He punches, and the ghost boy flies at the cave, creating a small crater in the wall. The shadow walks toward the fallen ghost, not in a hurry. Dani thinks of what to do, and the blade got warm all of a sudden. She looks at the dark blade, and gets an idea. She ran to the beast without goin' ghost.

"Hey, Ugly!"

'Ugly' turns around to find the voice, but gets kicked in the face. He stumbles back, clutching his face. He looks and finds Dani running at him with a dagger in her hand. The shadow tries to grab her, but Dani jumps over his hand and slices a cut on his arm. The shadow clutches his injured arm, and Dani climbs his back. Before the shadow could react, Dani jumps over his head and throws the Dagger into his chest. The shadow freezes. As Dani lands on the ground, the shadow crumbles to dust from head to toe. All that's left is a pile of black sand. Dani walks up to the dust and picks up the Dagger.

"Wow. Turned to dust." Dani said. She walks to her brother and helps him up.

"Ugh, what happened to the shadow?" asked Danny.

"He disintegrated into dust."

Danny looks at the pile of shadow dirt. "Wow."

"Well, let's hope Zepherus got the message and won't attack Amity Park. C'mon. Let's go home."

The two walk back to the Specter Speeder and powers it up, with Sam, Tucker, Ember, and Emily in the back. Emily tells Danny to drop her off at the edge of the village.

"But won't the soldiers arrest you?" asked Dani.

"I can stand right in front of them and they won't see me. A power I have."

"Cool." They land at the edge of the shadow village, and Emily walks back to her home. She said by to everyone, and enters the village. Danny and the rest go home, Sam and Tucker go back home, and Ember goes back to her house. Dani goes to her room and puts the Dagger of Shadow on her desk, crashes in her bed, and falls asleep.


	16. Chapter 15: Spending Time with a 'Friend

**Chapter 15: Spending time with a 'friend'**

_Dani is floating in the air, even though she is not ghost. She looks around, trying to figure out where she is, but to no prevail. Dani can see she is in a room with a chandelier and knight suits for decoration, like inside a castle. Her best guess is she is in the Shadow Realm, since everything has a black hue to it. She turns and finds a rug leading to an occupied throne. She can't see who is sitting on the throne. It's too dark to see._

_She hears the wooden doors creak open. Dani turns and sees the last person she wants to see: Zepherus. He walks in with a couple humanoid shadows behind him, with axes in their hands. He walks towards the throne, and bows._

"_My lord, I bear some bad news."_

_Dani wonders who he is talking to. Red eyes appear on the throne. His voice cuts through every molecule in Dani. "What is it, Zepherus?"_

_Zepherus says, "I'm afraid Danielle-"_

"_Do not say her name!" the mysterious person yelled._

"_Sorry master. As I was saying, the girl found the Dagger of Shadow."_

"_Hmm. It seems the girl is slowly developing her powers. We're going to need to destroy her soon."_

"_Sire, Let me take care of her." said Zepherus._

"_No. I gave you that chance, and you failed."_

"_But sire, I failed because she had help."_

"_Even with the help, you should have been able to defeat that infernal girl."_

_Zepherus hesitated. "Yes, master."_

"_I will give you a second chance, but for now, let's wait. The lack of activity should let her guard down. When she is relaxed, we will strike."_

"_Is that when I should get rid of her?" asked Zepherus._

"_No. I will send a playmate to weaken her, then you will get your revenge."_

_Zepherus smiles. "As you wish, sire."_

"_You may go."_

_The shadow king gets up and walks out of the throne room, his minions closely behind. The mysterious person looks at a glass ball. A girl with white hair is fighting a gigantic monster inside the ball._

"_Soon, girl. Soon."_

Dani wakes up from her dream. She tells herself it's not real over and over. When she calms down, Dani gets up from her bed and walks downstairs to get some breakfast. She enters the kitchen and gets some cereal. Dani takes the bowl and goes into the living room to find Danny watching TV.

Danny turns and sees his sister. "Are you getting ready for next Halloween, Dani?"

"Ha ha. Any shadow attacks?" asked Dani

"Surprisingly, no."

"Good. I need a break." Dani sits next to her brother, eating her cereal. She watches the news for a while, then goes back to her room and changes. She combs her hair, and tells Danny she's going to take a walk. When she's alone, Dani thinks about her dream. She recognized Zepherus, but did not know who the guy was on the throne. His name is at the tip of her tongue, but can't think what it is.

Dani was lost in her thought, She accidently ran into someone.

"Ugh. Hey watch where you're-" Dani stops when she sees who she ran into. "Oh. Hi Jake."

"Dani. I was wondering where you were for a few days" said Jake.

"I was…busy."

"Oh." Jake looked uncomfortable. "So, I was wondering…if you wanted to go to…a movie with…me?"

Dani blushed. "Oh, uh, s-sure. I'd like that."

"Great. I'll come get you around…8?"

"Sure. Nothing fancy?"

"No. Just a regular movie."

"Okay. See you at eight." Dani walks off. She thinks of tonight, not focused on where she's going.

* * *

Technus blasts Dani into a building. He floats toward the building, and Dani flies out and punches Technus. The tech ghost summons technology from the software store and builds a robot suit.

"You think you can defeat me, Technus?" he said. Technus shoots a ray at Dani, but she turns intangible, the beam passing through her. Dani turns tangible and sighs. "Can we just get this over with? I have something to go to tonight."

"Oh. I'm sorry to keep you from your date, but I, Technus, need technology to create my new armor to take over the world!"

Dani punches the techno. "It's NOT a date!" She punches and shoots at the Armor body until Technus falls out of it. Before he can say anything, Dani sucks him into the Fenton Thermos. She checks her watch. "Oh man, I'm going to be late." She zooms to her room, turns intangible, and changes back to human. Dani changes into her favorite style: black shirt with flowers in the shape of a skull, black and blue jeans, and purple shoes. She puts some purple lipstick on, and combs her hair. Dani hears the doorbell, and runs to the front door. She opens it to find Jake. "Hi, Jake."

"Hey. You ready for the movie?"

Dani turns. "Danny, I'm going out!"

"Okay!" he called.

Dani closes the door behind her. She asks Jake while walking to the theater, "So, what movie are we watching?"

"This movie will probably be too scary for you." said Jake.

Dani smiles. "Yeah right. I've seen some scary things. A movie's not going to spook me."

"I guess we'll see."

"How 'bout a bet? Ten dollars you get scared."

"Okay. Ten dollars you get frightened by the movie."

Jake smiles. "You're on."

* * *

After buying their popcorn and sodas, Jake and Dani find their seats. Dani found out the movie is called 'Zombie War Zone'.

_Oh __yeah.__This __is __going __to __be __sweet. _thought Dani. Suddenly, her ghost sense went off.

"Uh, I'll be right back." Dani said, running toward the exit.

"You better hurry. This movie could start any time!" called Jake.

Dani hurries outside and hides behind the big theater sign showing what movies are on. She goes ghost, and flies to find the ghost. Dani crosses her arm, annoyed.

_Great. __I__'__m __missing __my __movie __because __a __ghost __was __around, __and __he __won__'__t __even __show __his __ugl y__face._thought Dani. She looks inside the theater, invisible, and gets blasted into the concessions, turning visible. Dani looks up to see Skulker with his gun out.

"Well if it isn't the _greatest __hunter __in __the __Ghost __Zone_." Dani said.

"Thank you for recognizing my status. Now, I will have your-" before he could finish, Dani punches him into a pair of doors.

"Have you ever heard of sarcasm?" she asks with a grin on her face. A blast appears from the doors, exploding Dani back to the ground. She growls and flies to Skulker, beating him outside of the theater. "If you are a great hunter, then why are you always getting beat, especially by a girl? That's got to be embarrassing."

Skulker gets up, his armor badly bruised. "whatever, whelp. I just want to prove to my girlfriend by bringing your pelt."

Dani, all geared up to pound Skulker to a junk heap, is surprised. "Whoa."

Skulker grins. "Scared?"

"No. I can't believe you have a girlfriend."

"Now that just plain hurts."

"Not as much this as will be." Dani strikes the hunter, sending him flying away from the hybrid. Dani smiles in success, but remembers Jake. She flies back to the theater and changes back to human before walking in the room. She sits next to Jake. He asks, "What took you so long?"

"I was thinking if I should buy some candy." Answered Dani.

"Well, looks like you got here in time." The movie starts, ending the conservation. In the middle of the movie, Jake puts an arm around Dani. She blushes, but Jake doesn't notice. After the movie, they throw their trash away and walk out of the theater. The two teens talk about the movies and all the scary parts, forgetting the bet. Also, nobody got scared. A lot.

Dani's ghost sense appears. She looks around for the ghost, when Jake asks, "What was that?"

"What is what?" asked Dani uneasily.

That blue wisp coming from your mouth."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Did the movie make you see things?" Suddenly, Dani and Jake hear a deafening roar. Dani looks and sees a black and purple dragon wreaking havoc.

"What is that?" Jake asked, pointing at the dragon.

"A ghost. I suggest we run."

"Already on it." Jake runs the opposite direction, followed by Dani. Dani goes into an alley, making sure she is alone. Dani finds some guys.

"Well, well. What're you doin' in this alley?" asked one of the guys. They start walking up to her. "When someone enters my turf, they get pounded."

Dani sighs. "I don't have time for this." One guy makes a move, but Dani dodges and kicks him on the back. She takes care of the others, beating them out of the alley. When they get up, they run as fast as they can. Dani goes ghost, and flies to confront the dragon.

"Hey, beasty. I don't think we've met. I'm Dani. And you are?"

The dragon roars and punches Dani. She flies toward the ground, making a small crater. Dani gets up, but gets crushed by a clawed hand.

"You don't look like that ghost brat. How can you be the famous Danny Phantom?" the dragon asked.

"You must be talking about my brother." said Dani.

"Brother? I don't recall the brat having a ghostly relative."

"yeah well," Dani turns intangible and disappears in the ground. The dragon looks at his hands, confused. Dani flies out of the ground and punches the dragon. "Wait till you get to know me."

The dragon growls and attacks. They each blow punches, each getting more beat up. During the fight, Dani notices a necklace with a dragon eye amulet around his thick scaly neck. Using the distraction, the dragon bats the hybrid into a building. Dani flies and fires at the dragon. Annoyed, the dragon spews fire at Dani, but she dodges. "Who are you?"

"I am Prince Aragon." said the dragon.

"Prince Aragon?" Dani asked, confused. Aragon swings at Dani, knocking her into another building. She gets up and looks down at her chest. Three bleeding grazes spread pain all over her torso. Dani clutches her chest, her face full of pain. She looks up to see a hand shoot out and grab her. The ghost girl struggles, but Aragon holds her tightly. He squeezes, making Dani gasp.

"Watching you in pain fills me with joy. Too bad it's not the boy. Oh well, your death will be fine." The dragon squeezes tighter, Dani screaming in pain. Aragon smiles, then gets blasted from behind. He falls down, letting Dan go. She falls, too weak to fly, and lands in someone's arms. Dani looks up to see a smiling Jake, a gun strapped behind him. "Looks like you need some help."

"Uh, thanks. But I can take him out myself, sir." Dani said. Jake puts her down on her feet. "Oh please. Stop playing dumb, Dani."

"You know who I am?"

"Duh. Someone would have to be an idiot to not notice the similarities between you and…you."

Dani grins. "I guess everyone's an idiot. They think Dani Phantom is a great hero, and Dani Fenton is a mean nobody." She falls down, clutching her wounds.

"You okay?" asked Jake, helping her up.

"No. I think he scratched me up good." Dani groaned.

Jake looks up and sees the black dragon blowing fire at them. He picks ups Dani and jumps out of range. After he lands, Jake puts Dani down in an alley. "You should rest."

"No. I can-aah!" Dani collapses, but Jake catches her. "No. You need to rest."

"What are you going to do?" asked Dani.

Jake grabs the weapon behind him and loads it. "Gonna keep it busy."

"You can't defeat him by yourself." Dani said, worry in her voice.

Jkae smiles. "Don't worry. I'm just going to keep it busy." He runs at the ghost, dodging his blasts. Jake fires at Aragon, making him annoyed. He roars and tries to squish Jake. Dani tries to get up and help, but piercing pain erupts oin her chest, making her collapse back on the ground. She hears a cry, and gasps to see Jake crash in a building. He crawls out of the rubble, and looks up to see a hand. Jake jumps out of the way and tries to fire his weapon, but finds out it's empty.

"Well, looks like you're all out of ammo." Aragon said. "Which means no trouble to finish you off." He takes a deep breath and blast blue fire at Jake. Before Jake could get out of the way, something flies in front of him and makes a green shield. The fire goes in all directions, except at Jake and the mysterious person. Dani tries to see who it is, but can't find out because the fire is making it dark. When Aragon is done, he's surprised to find a green shield, and who is behind it.

"Miss me?"

The shield dissipates to reveal Danny Phantom. Aragon's face turns from shock to anger. "You!"

Danny flies at him at top speed, knocking Aragon a couple of feet. He growls and spews fire at Danny, but he dodges and shoots at the dragon with green ecto energy. With Aragon dazed, Danny flies in and grabs the amulet. The dragon starts to shrink, and a blue-skinned ghost with a ripped cape, fangs, and dragon eyes appears. He looks up to see Danny floating above him. "Uh, look. I didn't mean to cuase trouble, but-" before he finishes, Danny sucks him into the Fenton Thermos. He turns and asks Jake, "Where's Dani?"

"Don't worry. I'll take care of her." Jake said. Danny considers it, then nods. He flies off, leaving Jake, who runs towards Dani. He examines the wounds. "Hold still." Jake lifts up her shirt, but Dani stops him. "Uh, are you sure…?" Jake interrupts her, "Don't worry. My mom's a doctor and my dad's a surgeon. They made me ready in case of emergencies, like this one." After lifting her shirt, Jake takes some medicine out of his pocket and a cloth. He puts some medicine on the cloth and tells Dani, "This might sting a little." Danny spreads the medicine on Dani's wounds, making Dani gasp. After Jake is done washing the injury, he takes out some bandage cloth and wraps it around Dani's chest. When he's done, Jake helps her up. Dani puts her shirt down, covering the bandages. "Well, looks like I have a doctor for a friend."

Jake nervously chuckles. "I didn't want anybody to find out in case they take it the wrong way."

Dani smiles. "I think it's cool."

Jake smiles. "Let's get going." Dani nods. The two walk together back to Dani's home. They are quiet during the travel. When they get home, Dani thanks Jake. Jake asks, "You think you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine." She points to her chest. "Though, I don't know if I'll be able to hide this for long."

"Don't worry. Just replace those bandages after a couple of days, and you'll be fine."

"Thanks, Jake. I'll see you at school."

"Bye, Dani." Jake walks away. Dani closes the door and walks into the kitchen and finds Dani eating dinner. He asks, "So, how was your night?"

"Great." Dani said.

"You okay?"

Dani looks at her torso. "Just a few scratches, nothing big."

"If you say so. I was worried leaving you with a kid I don't know well."

"Maybe I can find a way for you two to get to know each other." Dani walks to the fridge and takes out a piece of fudge. "I'm going to bed."

"Okay. Good night." Danny said.

"Night." Dani walks up the stairs, eating her fudge. When she gets to her room, Dani takes her shirt off to check her wounds. The grazes stop bleeding, but it still made her sick. She wraps it again and changes to some PJs. Dani looks at the Dagger of Shadow. She picks it up and unsheathe it. The dark blade glows in the light. _Be __ready.__A __bigger __task __will __come._

"I hope I get a break." Dani sheathes the blade, puts it on her desk, and gets in her bed.


	17. Chapter 16: The Overshadow's Surprise

**Chapter 16: The Overshadow's Surprise**

Dani wakes up from a weird dream. She gets up a little too quickly, and felt pain on her chest. Dani looks down and remembers the grazes. _I__hope__nobody__sees__the__bandages._She gets up and changes into a black T-shirt and baggy pants. Dani walks downstairs and grabs some breakfast. She looks at the clock: 7:57. The dream woke her up earlier than she usually does. Dani walks into the living room and plops onto the couch. She turns the TV on and watches the news while eating. On the news, the reporter tells about a big fire, sunny days, nothing new. At least no ghost attacks, or, even better, shadow attacks.

When she's done, Dani puts the bowl in the sink, gets her bag, and walks to school. On the way, she sees kids waiting for the bus, Paulina gossiping to Star, Dash beating up a nerd. Dani turns a corner and sees the school. She walks to it, nervousness slowly building inside her. Dani checks to see if the bandages are covered, and walks into the school.

Dani doesn't see anyone. She checks her watch. Still a little early for anyone to be here. Dani walks to her locker and puts her bag in it. She walks to her first class of the day: English. One whole hour of boring talk. A minute before the bell, Jake walks in. He stops when he saw Dani. "Dani. You're here early."

"Well, a dream woke me up and I couldn't get anymore sleep." said Dani. "Anything new?"

"Nothing." The bell rings, signaling five minutes till school starts. Jake walks to his desk. Soon, other kids enter the classroom. Dani saw Dash, who gave her an _I__'__m__going__to__kill__you__later_look. Paulina takes a look at Dani, then whispers to Star. Probably, _Is__she__really__wearing__that?_ Four minutes later, the bell rings, starting school. Mr. Lancer walks in. "Good morning, class. Today, we'll be learning on poetry." The class groans.

"Perk up. This is an interesting topic."

"Maybe to you." Dani whispered. Suddenly, a blue wisp appears. Dani raises her hand, saying, "May I be excused?"

Mr. Lancer looks up from his book. "Fine. But hurry."

Dani runs out of the classroom, and goes into the restroom. She finds a stall and enters, closing the door. "Goin' ghost." She transforms to her ghost, and flies out, turning intangible. Outside, she turns solid and looks for the ghost. Dani finds it: a green ghost with tentacles and spiky hair.

"Oh. This is going to be easy." Dani said. She flies to the ghost. The green ghost turns and sees the hybrid. The ghost flies faster. Dani shoots it, making it stumble. Dani lands next to it. "Say goodbye." She starts the Fenton Thermos, but the ghost fades. Dani is confused. "What?" She looks around, and gets blasted from behind. Getting up from the rubble, Dani said, "Of course. Who would use a hologram to fool the hunted." She turns and sees Skulker. "Don't you ever get a break?"

"No." Skulker said. He readied his weapon and fires. Dani flies out of the way, and shoots Skulker. He falls back. Skulker growls and flies at Dani. Ready, Dani punches him back down. "Come on. When I saw you, I was expecting a challenge."

Skulker looks up. "You want a challenge? I'll give you a challenge."

"Yeah? How're going to do that?" Dani asked. Skulker smiled and whistled. After he finished, a beast leaps out and knocks Dani. She pushes it off of her and blasts it back. The beast roared and charges her. Dani flies over the beast and grabs its fur. The beast bucks and runs into buildings. No matter what the beast does, Dani hangs on tight. She grabs the Fenton Thermos and sucks the beast into it. She stumbles around and gets up to face Skulker. "Your turn."

"Oh man." Skulker tries to fly away, but Dani catches him in the thermos. She closes it and flies back to school. Dani turns back to human and runs to class. Dani stops by the door and catches her head. Dani opens the door to find some of the kids sleeping while Mr. Lancer is reading a book about poetry. He looks up and says, "Ms. Fenton. Is something wrong?"

"No." Dani said.

"Okay. Then I suggest you find your seat." Mr. Lancer continues reading. Dani walks to her desk and sits. To Dani, the hour felt like a century. She almost fell asleep three times, but quickly wakes up when her head slams on the desk. When the class was over, Dani quickly gets out of the class and walks to her second best class: art. Her first best class is band on guitar.

Dani went from class to class until the final bell. She walks to her locker and gets her bag. She then runs out of school. While she's walking, somebody calls, "Hey, Dani!" She turns to find Jake running to her. "Hey, Jake!"

Jake caught up to Dani. He asks, "So, got any plans for today?"

"I was thinking of kickin' back and relaxing without any, you know." Dani said.

"Oh."

Dani looks at her friend. "Did you want something?"

"Well, I was wondering if I can join." Jake said.

Dani smiles. "Sure."

The two walk to Dani's house. They talk about their classes and chats about what a horrible teacher Mr. Lancer is. When the two teens get to the house, Dani opens the door and goes inside, followed by Jake. Dani walks upstairs to drop her bag in her room, and Jake walks around, looking at all the bits and bots. He picks up a weird gun-like object. Jake examines it, finding a switch. He touches it, and the knob flicks to one side. The machine hums to life. Jake drops it out of shock. Just before the machine crashes on the floor, Dani quickly grabs it and turns it off. "How about not touching anything."

"Right." Jake chuckled. Dani smiles, walks to the couch, and jumps onto it. Jake walks to the other side of the couch and sits down. He watches Dani flip through channels. "Why isn't there anything on?"

"How 'bout a movie?" Jake suggested.

"Okay." Dani gets up and scans through the movies. She takes one out of the rack. "How about 'The Lost World'? Adventure, horror, and other genres."

"Sounds nice." Dani puts the movie in the DVD player and takes a seat next to Jake. Before the movie starts, Dani says she's going to get popcorn. She walks to the kitchen and makes the popcorn. When it's done, the teen carefully takes it out of the microwave, opens it, and pours the popcorn into a bowl. Dani walks back to the couch. She sits back down and offers some corn to Jake.

The movie starts. Dani scoots closer to Jake while he gets some more popcorn. While the movie plays a man fighting some zombies, Jake stretches and puts it on Dani's shoulder. The two reach to get some popcorn, and their hands meet. They look down, then at each other's eyes. The two get closer, closing their eyes. Then, they get interrupted by the door slamming open. "We're home!" Dani and Jake flinch back. Jake looks at his arm, then pulls it off of Dani. Jack and Maddie comes in the house, Danny and Jazz coming behind, carrying some bags. Jack says, "So, how was your day?"

"Great, dad. Just great." Dani said.

"Great." He notices Jake. "Who's he?"

"Uh, Dad, This is Jake." Dani said. Jake gets up and shakes hands with Jack. Jake says, "You must be Dani's father." Jake then shakes hands with Maddie. "And you must be her mother."

"Yes. Pleasure to meet you, Jake." Maddie said. She takes the bag from Jazz, thanking her. Jack takes the bag from Danny and walks to his room. Jake turns to Dani, and says, "I have to get home."

"Right." The two walk to the door. Dani opens it and Jake walks out. He turns and says, "It was fun hanging with you."

"Thanks."

"Maybe, another time." Jake walks back to his house, Dani closing the door. She turns and walks to her brother "You couldn't have waited a minute longer?"

"Huh? What are you…wait a minute." Danny said. "You and Jake sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Did he put his arm around you?"

Dani said sheepishly, "Uh, well…maybe. I don't know."

Danny smiles. "Uh-huh. Well, I hope you had a good day." He walks upstairs, leaving Dani. She sighs and starts to walk upstairs. She stops when she hears rumbling. Dani turns around, trying to find the source. She slowly walks to a wall. Dani listens against the wall as the rumbling gets louder. When it stops, Dani's eyes widen and jumps back as the wall blast to pieces. She wipes the rubble off of her and looks up to see what tore the wall. A gigantic beast is snarling at her. It has black fur, with gleaming, large fangs, and red eyes. Its tail ends with spikes. Its feet end in large claws, which it tries to shish kabob Dani. She jumps out of the way. "Who, or what, are you?" the beast growls and charges the teen. Dani jumps over it, making the beast crash into the kitchen. Dani goes ghost and grabs the tail. She throws the beast out of the house.

"You just made a big mistake." Dani flies at the beast, blasting it back. The beast roars and spews fire at Dani. She turns intangible, letting the fire pass through her. "Okay. A little harder, but I can do it." She blast the beast, but it jumps and slams into Dani. She flies back and through a building. "Ow."

The beast growls and leaps at her. Dani phases through the floor, evading the attack. The beast looks around, and gets blasted from behind.

Dani says, "Alright, kitty. Time to end your life." She creates her sword and attacks the beast. Dani swings at it, but the blade bounces off his fur. "Uh oh." The beast swings at Dani. She moves out of the way, but still gets raked on the shoulder. Dani clutches her shoulder. She looks up to see the beast flying at her. Before it squishes Dani like a bug, it gets blasted to the side. Dani looks and sees Danny Phantom floating. "Why are you always being attacked?"

"Zepherus really wants me dead." Dani said. She flies next to Danny, readying her ecto beams. The monster growls and jumps at them. The two Phantoms blast it back, but the beast shrugs it off and slashes the older teen. Danny falls down, the monster landing on top of him, his paw trapping him. Dani flies to help him, but the beast grabs her and brings her to the ground. Dani struggles to get the paw off of her, while Danny is dazed. The beast growls, foam falling from his mouth.

"Hey, kitty-cat!" the beast turns his head to the voice, and gets blasted off of the Fenton's. Dani gets up and looks to see Sam and Tucker. Dani smiles. "I'm so glad to see you two."

"Yeah. Uh, one question." Tucker said. "Is this your sixth attack, or seventh?"

Dani's smile vanishes. "Shut up."

"Okay." said Tucker. Sam runs to Danny. "What happened to Danny?"

"I'm guessing he's dazed."

"Mommy, where's my pony?" Danny asked. Sam chuckles and Dani laughs out loud. Sam says, "Yep. He's dazed." Sam helps Danny up. Dani turns and sees the monster shaking the blast. He turns, his murderous crimson eyes slicing through Dani. She shivers, and the monster charges. At the last second, Dani jumps out of the way. The monster turns and bites Dani's injured shoulder. She screams as agonizing pain shot through her shoulder. The beast shook her around, and lets go, throwing Dani into her room, knocking her desk.

Groaning, Dani slowly gets up. Her eyes land on the Dagger. She looks up and sees Sam and Tucker keeping the monster busy. Dani looks back at the Dagger and picks it up. Suddenly, a burning feeling erupts on her hand. She drops the blade out of shock. "What the…?"

_Only __a __human __can __wield __me, __Danielle. _The blade said in Dani's head. "Now you tell me." She transforms back to human, and picks up the blade again. It didn't burn her. Dani jumps out of the hole and lands on the ground, hurting her legs. She runs at the beast, who bats Sam and Tucker. The monster turns and sees Dani running to him. He grins. Dani unsheathes the Dagger of Shadow, and attacks the beast. The monster dodges and punches the teen to a store. Dani groans, and gets up from the rubble. She runs to the monster, ignoring the pain. She jumps over a paw and slashes at the beast. The monster roars and tries to grab the girl. Dani jumps over the paw and lands on his face. She jumps off his face, and lands next to Jake.

"Jake! What are you doing here?"

"Hey. I don't want to miss a ghost attack." Jake said.

"Uh, just one problem. He's no ghost."

Jake smiles and throws away the gun he's holding. "Good. Then I can use these." He pulls out some swords out of the scabbards on his back. Dumbfounded, Dani asks, "How long have you had those?"

"Ever since my mom taught me swordplay."

Dani grins. "Wow. I have a friend who's a doctor and a ninja."

Chuckling, Jake says, "Well, I'm not exactly a ninja." He runs at the monster, slicing at him. The beast rears back and tries to slash at Jake. He nimbly jumps out of the way. Dani watches for a while, then dashes to join the fight. The two slash and dash at the monster. The beast roars as the teens annoy him, and swipes at Jake. The Teen boy flies and crashes on the ground.

"Jake!" Dani screams. She runs at the beast, but he cages Dani with his claws. Dani struggles to get up. The beast growls at her face, then talks in her head. _The __Shadow __king __gets __beaten __by __you? __He __must__'__ve __laughed __so __hard __he __surrendered._

"Yeah well, I had help." Dani said. The beast laughs, then continues. _How __can __the __Overshadow __be __afraid __of __you? __You__'__re __nothing __but __a __weak, __little, __loser._

Dani Growls and says, "Don't you dare call me a loser!" She stabs the beasts paw, making him let go of Dani. She gets up and starts slicing the monster. The beast backs away, but Dani keeps on coming. She feels power fueling her. A small part of her brain is telling her something's different about her, but she's more focused on shish kabobing the monster. Dani jumps, higher than a normal teen, and stabs his face. The beast falls to the ground groaning. He looks up to see Dani above him. _How__…_

"Anyone who underestimates me, gets beaten." Dani brings down the Dagger, Stabbing the monsters head. The beast roars, then turns to dust, crumbling. When the monster is gone, Dani suddenly feels exhausted. She starts to fall down, but Jake catches her. "Whoa. You okay?"

"Just…a little tired." Dani said. Jake helps her balance, making sure she's okay. "Dani. Back there, when you were fighting the animal, you looked a little…different."

Confused, Dani asks, "How different?"

"Well, you seem to glow a dark aura, and your clothes changed to Dani Phantom's clothes, but shadow black."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well…"

"Jake, I think you bonked your head a little too hard." Dani said.

"Yeah. Maybe."

Dani turns her head and sees her brother running to her. "Dani, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Danny looks at the remains of the monster. "Well, Looks like you did good with him. What was that, anyway?"

"My guess, the Overshadows little 'surprise'. And I got a feeling there's something bigger coming.

* * *

Zepherus watches Dani in a crystal walks back to her home. "She is starting to unlock her power, master."

A pair of red, slit eyes appears in the shadow. "She may be getting tougher, but she will fall. And I will live for eternity."

Zepherus bows. "Of course, sire. And she will fall by my hands."

A clawed hand appears, pointing at the door. "Go. Ready your men and march into the city. If you find the girl, kill her."

The shadow king smiles. "Yes, sir."


	18. Chapter 17: Zepherus Strikes

**Chapter 17: Zepherus strikes**

_Dani swings at Zepherus, but he blocks it and knocks the sword out of her hand. Dani looks up, fear in her eyes. The shadow king punches Dani to a roof of a building. Zepherus floats down above Dani "Now, it's time for your demise." He brings the sword down into Dani's stomach. She screams as searing pain shoots all over her body…_

Dani wakes up, panting. _What__'__s __with __these __dreams? __Am __I __going __crazy? _Not figuring the answer, she gets up and checks her alarm clock. 6:55. Dani groans. "Why so early?" Dani falls back onto her bed, and tries to get some more sleep. She twists and turns, but couldn't find a comfortable position. Growling, Dani kicks the sheet off of her and sits on her bed. She puts her head on her hands, thinking of what to do. Dani gets up and walks downstairs, making a mental note to see the counselor.

Dani eats some toast and milk. She gets ready for school, and writes a note for Danny. She leaves her house and walks to school. Some kids are walking around, but since it's around 7, not many Casper High students are up. Dani finds her school, and tries to open the doors, but finds it locked. Sighing, Dani sits on the steps. She takes a book out of her bag and reads. Dani gets so interested in her book, she doesn't see someone walk up to her.

"Dani."

The teen looks up to see Mr. Lancer. "Mr. Lancer. What are you doing here at this hour?"

"I like to get here early before I start my lesson." Mr. Lancer walks to the doors and unlock it. "I'm surprised you're reading independently. I've never seen a student do that before."

"Well, I got bored." Dani said.

Mr. Lancer asks, "Is there a reason **you****'****re**here early?"

"I just wanted to talk to the counselor."

"About what, I may ask?"

"About…dreams I've been having."

Mr. Lancer looks at Dani. "Come with me. Maybe I can help." He enters the school, followed by Dani. They walk into the counselor room and Mr. Lancer motions Dani to sit. She does, and Mr. Lancer sits behind the desk. "Okay, Dani. Could you tell me about your dream?"

Dani thinks if she should tell him about her dream, or if she could keep it to herself. "Well, every dream is a little different, but it always shows this big guy with a sword, and me fighting him. He knocks my sword away and throws me down. This guy floats down and says some words. Then, he brings his sword down and…"

"And?"

"That's about it." said Dani.

"Hmm. Dani, in all my life, I've helped with people with their dreams, but yours is unusual." Mr. Lancer gets up and starts pacing. "Whenever the guy swings his sword at you, you always wake up. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Well, Dani. If you ask me, there's more to you than meets the eye."

"You ripped that off of Transformers."

"Actually, I found it in a book."

"Oh." Dani said.

"You know what I think?" Mr. Lancer stops and looks at Dani. "You have something I thought was a myth."

Confused, Dani asks, "What would that be?"

"You have the power of a diviner."

"Diviner? I think I heard that somewhere."

"A diviner is a person with the ability to see things no one else can see."

"As in…" Dani said.

"They can see a little into the future, picture something, or see something to help them understand something."

Dani paled a little. "See a little into the future?"

"Don't worry, Dani. I'm sure your dream is not the future. It could be something else."

"Okay."

Mr. Lancer nods. "Then if that is it, you can leave now."

"Thanks." Dani said, before she left the room, she whispered, "I think." She travels to her next class, a few students entering school. Dani walks to her locker and puts her bag in it. She then finds her band class and gets her guitar out of the band locker. While she waits for class to start, Dani practices some notes. Soon, her teacher comes in class and starts the day.

* * *

_Rrrrriiiiiiiinnnnggg_

Dani rushes to her locker and gets her bag. She then hurries out of the school and runs to the Nasty Burger. Dani stops at the entrance and calms down from running. She enters and orders a burger and fries. Dani finds a table and starts eating. While she eats, Dani thinks of what Mr. Lancer said. _What__i f __he__'__s __wrong? __What__i f __it _is _the __future? __Zepherus __swings __his __sword __at __me __and __he __would__…__no. __It__'__s __not __the __future. __It__'__s __just __some __wacky __dream._

Dani finishes her snack and walks out. She puts her hands in her jean pockets and walks aimlessly around Danville. When she snaps back to reality, Dani sees she's stopped by a bizarre store. The store is dark with amulets and spooky merchandise. Her curiosity taking over, Dani walks into the shop. In the shop are more creepy products: potions of every colors, more weird amulets, candles, and different skull shapes. Dani walks to a shelf and picks an amulet shaped as a ghost. The teen reads the writing on the bottom, "_The __death __of __someone __will __help __you __to __success__._" While reading, Dani doesn't see a woman walk behind her.

"May I help you?"

Startled, Dani drops the amulet and twists around. The woman says, "Oh, my bad. Did I frighten you?"

"Not as much as someone else who hasn't seen freaky stuff before." Dani said. She picks up the ghost amulet. The woman says, "Ah. I see you found the future amulet."

Dani pales a little. "A-a future amulet?"

"Yes." The mysterious woman takes the amulet from Dani. "These amulets have a magic in them, making them unreadable to everyone but one. Strange amulets, even for me. The writing is just gibberish."

"Uh, no." said Dani.

The mysterious woman looks at Dani. "No?"

"I see English writing on that."

This time, the woman pales. She runs to the windows, and lowers the blinds. Then, she flips the open sign so it says closed. "Come with me." She walks behind the desk and vanishes behind a door. Confused, Dani follows. When she goes into the other room, Dani finds the woman scanning through books. "Uh, who are you?" asked Dani.

"My name is Silviva." She said, still looking through books.

"Why did you look scared when I said I can read the amulet?"

Silviva says, "There is a reason there is magic in the amulet. A wizard gave me the amulet, telling me that the person to read it will have the power to stop a great evil growing."

"Great evil? That doesn't sound good."

"Of course it doesn't. Evil is never good."

"So, you're saying I have powers to defeat the evil?"

"Maybe. First I need to…Ah ha!" Silviva pulls out a thick book covered it dust. She blows the dust off, and onto Dani. Dani coughs as dust enters her mouth. Silviva opens the book, and stops at a picture. "Take a look at this."

Dani looks at the picture. She sees a gigantic shadow in a shape of a dragon. The dragon reminds her of Aragon, but this dragon looks pure shadow. In front of him is someone holding a wicked sword. The person is wearing a silver and gold suit, the suit a shocking resemblance to Dani's phantom suit. The two seem to be fighting in a city. Silviva asks, "What do you see?"

"I see a giant shadow battling a…girl with a black and gold suit and…unusual golden hair. And, she seems to be floating."

Silviva nods. "What you are seeing is a pictured prophesy. This," She points to the shadow. "Is the great evil. Nobody knows his name. The ones who do, end up dead."

"The Overshadow." whispered Dani.

"What?" asked Silviva.

"Nothing. Go on."

"This, girl, as you put it," Silviva points to the golden haired girl. "Is the person of the prophesy. But to fulfill the prophesy, the one has to have a long lost weapon, and a rare power."

Dani asks, "What would the rare power be?"

"I have no idea. But, the way you can read the amulet, I'm guessing you have a big role in the prophesy."

Dani gulps. "Okay."

Silviva hands her the amulet. "Keep it. I think it will help." The two walk out of the room, and back to the shop. "So, is there anything you want to buy?"

"Do you have anything to help with nightmares?" asked Dani.

"Hmm. I may have something." Silviva vanishes behind a shelf. She returns, holding a purple candle. Silviva grabs a carving tool out of her desk, and starts carving a pattern on the candle. She gets a glass candle holder and puts stuff in it. She burns the stuff, making it emit smoke. Silviva covers the candle in a gloss, and puts it in the tube, making a big puff of smoke. "Here you go." Silviva hands the candle to Dani. "Light the candle before falling asleep. It should repel all nightmares. If it doesn't work, come back. And here." She gives something else to Dani. A two piece amulet with ribbons wrapping around a heart. "I think you'll find this special."

"Okay. Thanks." Dani hands her some cash and starts to leave the store.

"Anytime, Dani."

The teen stops at the door and turns her head. Silviva vanished. Dani shivers, and leaves the store, heading home.

* * *

Dani walks into her house to find Maddie building a weird, hand-held machine. She says, "Hi, Dani."

"Hey, mom."

"What's that?" asked Maddie, referring to the bag in Dani's hand.

Dani looks at the bag. "Just something to help me at night."

"Oh. Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"You could say that." Dani quickly walks upstairs before her mom can ask any more questions. Before she reaches the top, Dani asks, "Where's Danny?"

"He's with his friends."

"Okay." Dani walks to her room, which has been rebuilt, and takes the candle out of her bag. She puts it on her desk next to her bed. Dani looks at the Dagger of Shadow. _A __long __lost __weapon. _She unsheathes the weapon, looking at the onyx black blade. _Could __this __be __the __long __lost __weapon __Silviva __was __talking __about?_ Dani stares at the blade. For some reason, Dani starts to feel weird, like the blade is part of her. Dani sheathes the blade and walks down to find her brother. Before Dani leaves the house, she hears an explosion. Dani turns to see smoke coming from the kitchen. "You okay, mom?" Dani yells.

"I'm fine Dani. Just a little wiring problem."

"Okay. I'm leaving."

"Okay. Have fun!"

Dani goes outside, enjoying the beautiful afternoon, trying to not think about amulet and the picture of the prophesy. While she walks, Dani looks for her brother. She turns a corner, and her ghost sense appears. Dani looks around to find the ghost, and sees her brother crash into a wall next to her. "Danny?"

Danny looks up from the rubble. "Oh. Hey, Dani. How was your day?"

"Okay."

"Good." Danny flies to the annoying ghost, also known as the Box Ghost. "Beware! I am the Box Ghost. I have control over boxes, cardboard, and square!" Danny punches the ghost. Sam throws Danny the Fenton thermos, and he sucks the Box Ghost.

Danny sighs. "He just never gives up."

Dani walks to the small group. "You know, I'm starting to like him."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because he annoys you so much."

"Ha ha." Danny said. The teen girl chuckles a little, then stops. Dani looks around. Danny, confused, asks, "Uh, Dani, what are you-"

"Shh!" interrupted Dani. She still looks around. "Don't you here that?"

Danny listens carefully. He hears a rumble coming from somewhere. Sam asks, "Is that…marching?"

Dani looks at the sky as it starts to turn dark. She looks at the direction it came from, and her blood turned cold. An army of shadows are marching into Amity Park. Everyone runs away, screaming. Dani looks farther into the soldiers, and her eyes widen when she sees Zepherus himself. "Oh no."

"Dani, run!" The ghost boy said. Dani turns and runs back to the house. She saw the Fenton's ATV zooming to the enemy. Dani runs to her house and to her room. She grabs the Dagger and runs back outside to find chaos everywhere. Shadonians tearing the town apart. Shadows sniff and scaring innocent civilians. Dani charges and slashes at the Shadows. They disintegrated when they got cut by the blade. She brings down the soldiers while she makes her way to Zepherus. Dani sees her brother fighting him, as well as Sam and Tucker with weapons, which pretty much has no affect on him. The shadow king says, "All I want is Danielle. Move aside or be destroyed."

"You think I'm just going to 'move aside', and let you kill my sister?"

Zepherus bats Danny away from him. He crashes on a building and falls to the ground.

"Danny!" yelled Sam. She drops the weapon and rushes to him. Danny gets up, blood running down his mouth. "I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" asked Sam, worry in her voice. Danny nods.

The girl teen looks at Zepherus. She sees something running at him, and gets his swords. _Jake!_Thought Dani. She starts running to him, but Jake reaches the shadow king and start slashing at him. Zepherus growls and tries to fight the human. Jake evades his punches and slicing at his arm, opening a cut. Zepherus says, "You will pay!" He creates his black sword, and Dani sees it looks different. The sword is bigger, and it has holes down the middle. Zepherus swings at Jake. He avoids it, but got slashed on his cheek. Jake ignores the pain and slashes at the shadow king, creating several cuts all over his body. Zepherus feints a punch, and Jake moves out of the way. The king grabs him, crushing Jake with his fist.

"Now, should I end your life, or should I make you work to death?" Zepherus said. Jake tries to struggle out, but to no prevail. Zepherus smiles and raises his sword.

"No!" yelled Dani. Zepherus looks down and sees the teen. "Ah. I was wondering when you will show up." He throws Jake at a building, and Jake tumbles around. Dani runs to him to see if he's okay. She hears him breathing, so she sighs of relief. Dani turns around, and sees Zepherus walking toward her. She growls and charges. Zepherus smiles and swings at her. Dani dodges and jumps, slashing the shadow king's arm. He frowns and starts attacking with more force. His sword clashes with Dani's Dagger, trying to push each other off. Zepherus uses one hand to hold his sword, and the other hand to grab Dani. He throws the teen, and Dani crashes on the ground. She groans as she gets up, and notices the Dagger of Shadow missing.

"Ah nuts!" Dani looks around, trying to find it. Zepherus walks to her and raises his sword. Dani turns and sees Zepherus swinging his sword at her. At the last second, Dani creates her green sword, blocking the blow. Catching Zepherus off guard, Dani pushes his sword away and swings at the shadow king's chest. Dani goes ghost, and flies at the bleeding king. The two clashes and swings, trying to kill one or the other. Dani feints to the left, and goes in straight. Zepherus sees the trick, and blocks Dani's charge. The shadow king kicks Dani's chest. She clutches her chest in pain. She still has the scars from a recent ghost attack. Zepherus grabs Dani, again, and is about to cut her to pieces, when he gets blasted from behind. He turns and sees Jake.

"Put her down." Zepherus smiles. He drops Dani, and walks toward the boy. "You think you can defeat me, boy?"

Jake smiles. "No. But she can."

Zepherus's grin vanishes. He turns and gets punched. The king stumbles, and looks to see Dani. He chuckles. "Well? Are you going to finish me off?"

"Nah. I want to have some fun first." She zooms at Zepherus. He gets ready to fight, but Dani grabs him and shoots to the sky. The teen throws him even farther up, and watches him fall back to the ground. He crashes into the ground, creating a crater. Dani flies back down and lands next to Jake.

"Nice." Jake said.

"Thanks." Dani said. She looks at the crater, and is surprised to see Zepherus jump out and have a smile on his face. "You think that is going to stop me?"

Dani growls. She flies towards the king, sword in hand. Zepherus smiles. "You think you can defeat me?" He shoots at the ghost hybrid. She dodges the blast and slashes at the shadow king, making a cut on his arm

Dani says, "Yeah, I think I can." She blasts Zepherus, but he avoids it.

"Your death is certain. You're only delaying it." He swings, but is blocked by Dani. They keep swinging at each other. Dani gets some lucky shots, but is mostly getting beat up. Jake comes behind Zepherus, about to shoot, but got batted away to a building.

"Jake!" Dani fires at Zepherus, but he dodges and blasts Dani. She swings at the shadow king, but he blocks it and cuts Dani on the leg.

"Just give up, Danielle. I am more powerful than you." Zepherus said.

"Never!" yelled the hybrid. Flying at full speed, Dani swings at Zepherus with her favorite sword, but Zepherus blocks it with his improved sword. He swings, and knocks Dani's sword out of her hand. Dani looks at the tall ghost, fear in her eyes. Zepherus punches the teen ghost to a roof of a building.

"Time for your demise, ghost child."Zepherus raises his sword, and brings it down into Dani's stomach. Dani screams as agonizing pain courses through her whole body, feeling her life diminishing.

"No! Dani!" yelled Jake. Zepherus grins as Dani goes unconscious. He turns to the town. "Your _hero_is finished. The time for darkness shall begin!"

Danny flies to Jake and grabs him, then fly to his sister. Danny lands next to her, and Jake runs to inspect the damage. Danny asks, "How is she?"

Jake checks her all around. He lowers his head. "Not good. She lost too much blood."

Danny pales. "You mean she's…"

"Yes." Danny and Jake turn to see Zepherus. "And I'll help to get her rest. Permanently." Danny creates his ecto beams, and flies to the king. Zepherus grabs him and throws Danny at Jake. He walks to Dani, and is about to slice Dani, but something green a black scratches him. Zepherus backs away, and looks to see what got him. A black wolf with green claws and a green hoodie growls at him. Zepherus swings at the wolf, but he jumps and punches Zepherus back. The wolf picks up Dani and scratches the air. A green portal appears, and before Zepherus could stop him, the wolf jumps in, carrying Dani.

Zepherus snarls with in defeat and cuts the portal. He turns and looks at Danny. "Doesn't matter. With her gone, I can take control of the world. But first, I am going to finish off the ones that will stop me." Danny grabs Jake and flies away before the shadow king can destroy them. The ghost boy looks back to see the shadow king laughing. He turns intangible and flies through his house, to the lab. Danny drops the boy and starts powering up the Specter Speeder. Jake asks, "What are you doing?"

"We need fast transport to find my sister." Danny said. He walks to the Ghost Portal and presses a button. The doors open, revealing a green swirling vortex. "Whoa." said Jake.

Danny hops back into the speeder. "You coming or what?"

Jake jumps into the speeder. Danny controls the speeder, and starts to drive into the Ghost Zone, when someone yells, "Danny, wait."

Danny turns and sees Sam and Tucker. "Come on! The longer we wait, the closer Dani is to death!"

"Danny. Just calm down. We'll find Dani in time." Sam said. The two friends hop in the Specter Speeder. "Now. Let's go."

Danny drives the Specter Speeder, and looks for Dani in the Ghost Zone.


	19. Chapter 18: Understand the Shadow King

**Chapter 18: Understanding the Shadow King.**

Danny starts the Specter Speeder, with Jake, Sam, and Tucker aboard, and zooms into the green swirling portal, entering the swirling green zone with doors all around.

"Whoa. Is this really…?" asked a surprised Jake.

"Yep, Jake. Welcome to the Ghost Zone." Danny said. He continues to drive through the Ghost Zone. He thinks of all possible places Wolf could have went with Dani. Danny tenses when he drives the speeder past Walker's Jail.

"What is that, Danny?" asked Jake, pointing at the jail.

"That is someplace you don't want to go to."

They pass a couple of ghost. Danny is starting to get frustrated. "Where would Wolf go to with Dani?"

"Danny, think. What is the one place that is friendly and has a hospital?" said Sam.

"A ghost hospital?" Tucker jokes.

Danny says, "Been there. Was not very friendly."

"Oh. Right."

"Danny. The land of the Far Frozen!" said Sam. "How clearer could that get?"

Danny palms himself. "Of course!" He changes routes and shoots of the snowy land. After a while, they see the Land of the Far Frozen. Danny says, "Sam, you might want to get the coats."

Sam walks to the back and open the closet. She grabs three coats, and gives them to Tucker and Jake. They all put the coats on as Danny lands in the snow, close to the entrance of the Far Frozen. Te four exit the speeder, and walk to the guards.

"Hello there, Great One. What brings you here?" asked one of the guards.

"We need to see Frostbite. Now." Danny said.

The guards move out of the way, and Danny and the others walk in. Jake looks around, not believing his eyes. "Danny, why do all these ghost look like the Abominable Snowman?"

"I have no idea."

"Maybe these are what the people saw, making the myth."

"Huh. I never thought of that."

They continue walking, and a friendly voice behind them says, "Ah, there you are, Great One." The four turn and sees a beast like the others, but with gold and blue outfit, walking to them. Danny says, "Hey, Frostbite."

"And a welcome Great One's friends. I have been expecting you when Wolf flew in carrying the Great One's sibling."

"You mean Dani?" asked Jake.

"How is she?" Danny asked, fear in his voice.

Frostbite frowns. "Not good, I'm afraid. Follow me." He starts walking, and the four follow. They enter a cave, and computers appear, along with tables full of medicine. "Whoa. I would have never guessed this." said Jake. They continue walking deeper into the cave, until they come to a room with cylinders full a blue liquid and more screens. One of the containers has Dani floating, an oxygen mask on her face. Danny runs to her and inspects the gash on her stomach. Jake walks to the computer nex to the container, and checks vitals.

Frostbite says, "She is only living this long because of the container, and her strong will."

"Is there no way to save her?" asked Jake.

"No. I am sorry, but once out, she will only have a couple minutes to live."

Danny closes his eyes, trying to keep the sadness at bay, but it's rapidly building. Sam tries to comfort him, but Danny shoos it away and walks to a wall. Jake pounds his fist on the computer, feeling useless. "The only way to save her now is a miracle."

"Or maybe magic."

Everyone turns and sees a boy of 16 wearing a black shirt and dark pants. He has long hair as dark as shadow, black-green eyes, and dark skin. Danny charges his ecto ray, and is about to fire, when the boy says, "Whoa, hold your fire. I'm a friend of Dani."

"Why should I believe you?" asked Danny.

"Because, if it wasn't for me, Dani would be dead already. I saved her from Zepherus's castle."

"Danny, I think he's telling the truth." Sam says.

"What makes you say that?"

"I remember seeing Dani with this guy when we were looking for her."

Danny looks at the guy, then let's his ray fizz out. "Fine. But one false move…"

"Danny. Calm down." Sam said. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Austin." He answers.

Jake asks, "So, what do you mean by magic?"

Austin walks to a table and takes fruits and jars of stuff out of his satchel. "A little family recipe. With the right ingredients, I can heal any wound, no matter how close to death they are."

"That's crazy! There's no such thing as magic!"

"The same way you think there's no such thing as ghost, or a Ghost Zone?"

Jake tries to say something back, but couldn't find the right words. Austin starts to mash the fruits together, then adds some chemicals into it, mixing up the paste. "Dani doesn't have much time to live, so I'm going to have to work fast." Austin takes out a book from his satchel. "Put her on the table."

Frostbite presses a button, and the glass case slides up. Dani falls out, and Jake catches her. He puts the teen on the table, while she takes short gasps, trying to get oxygen hi her system. Austin spreads the paste on the gash, Making Dani flinch. He opens the book, and says gibberish words. While he talks, a blacking glow surrounds the ghost girl, and the paste seeps into the gash, and leaving new skin behind, making it look like it was never stabbed. Austin stops talking, and the glow vanishes. Everyone wait to see what would happen next. Dani groans and opens her eyes to see a rock ceiling. "Wh-where am I?"

Danny runs to her and hug her. "Dani, your alive."

"Ah-bro. If you don't stop, I **will** be dead." She gasps. Danny lets go of her, and Frostbite checks a screen with a picture of Dani. Jake walks to him, looking at the screen. "I don't believe this."

Austin smiles. "Not everything is about science."

Dani finally sees the shadonian. "Austin. What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life. Again."

Dani gets off the table and lands on her feet. She clutches her stomach, and Jake comes over to help. Austin says, "Careful. Your body is still sore from the wound."

Dani asks, "What happened to me?"

"Well, at first, you were winning against Zepherus, but he got the upper hand, and, well, stabbed you." Jake said.

"What?"

"Yeah." said Danny. "And he was about to give you the final blow, but Wolf saved you and took you here."

"Wolf?"

Footsteps appeared behind the ghost girl. She turns and sees a black wolf in a green hoodie. Wolf stops and looks at the group. Dani says, "Uh, thanks." Wolf sniffed at the teen, then licks her on the face. Dani wipes the slobber off of her, laughing. "I like him."

"Is the happy moment over? Because I have some info that could help with your problem." Austin said. Dani looks at him, the atmosphere dropping. "You think it will help to defeat Zepherus?"

Austin replies, "I don't know if it'll help, but the more you know someone, the better you can control them." He walks out of the cave. Dani hesitates, then follows the Shadonian.

"Uh, Dani? You sure we can trust him?" asked Danny.

The teen stops and turns to her brother. "I do." She then resumes following Austin. Danny looks at his friends. Sam nods, and chases after Dani, followed by Jake. Danny turns to Tucker. "C'mon." The two follow the trio, saying good-bye to Frostbite.

When they caught up, they find Sam and Jake in the Specter Speeder, Dani beside it. Austin is readying his speeder. Sam looks up and sees the two. "Well, are you coming or what?"

Tucker hops into the speeder, and Sam readies it. Austin jumps on his speeder and says, "Follow me when you're ready." He shoots in a direction. The Fenton's fly after him, followed by the Specter Speeder. The gang fly through the Ghost Zone and starts to enter the Shadow Realm. Austin, instead of continuing to the town, turns right. Confused, the Fenton's, Sam, and Tucker turn right, following the Shadonian. They continue the direction, passing floating asteroids. Dani flies to Austin, and asks, "Where are we going?"

"To a cave."

They keep flying until they see a large rock platform. The gang land at the edge. Tucker and Sam exit the speeder. Austin parks and walks to a cave. Dani walks behind him and the trio follow Dani. In the cave, writing is all over the place. Dani examines a piece of English writing.

Sam takes a look at the inscription. "What's this, Latin?"

"It's Shadolin. The language of Shadonians." Austin said. Sam looks at the symbols again. "So, you can read it?"

"I can read all this in this part of the cave. The info we need lies farther down." Austin walks deeper into the cave. The four friends follow him. As the walk, Austin says, "This cave is full of history of the Shadow Realm. From the beginning of time to the present day. As history is made, the cave grows."

"Grows? Like it's alive?" asked Tucker.

"In a way, yes." Austin stops in front of a hole. He jumps in going deeper in the cave. Dani follows to find English. _Shadolin? __Thi s__looks __English._ Thought Dani. Danny, Sam, and Tucker appear and walk around. Austin says, "It took some digging, but I finally found some hidden inscription about the shadow king."

"By digging, you mean that metaphorically, right?" asked Danny. Austin stops. "Yeah, that's what I mean." Dani thought she heard some lie in his voice. She pushes that away and asks the question that's been bugging her since she entered the cave. "So, Austin, why is this all English?"

Austin turns with a confused look on his face. "English? This is Shadolin."

Dani thinks he's just faking. "No. this is plain English."

Danny looks at her sister. "Dani, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Is there something wrong with you?"

Austin walks to the group. He points to a group of words. "Dani, what does this say?"

The ghost girl looks at the writing. "'The shadow king made an agreement, in order to live forever.'"

Austin looks dumbfounded. "How is that possible?"

Danny asks, "Austin? When you healed her, did those berries and magic changed her?"

Austin thinks this over. "Could be. I didn't think it was possible, though."

"So, does that mean…" starts Dani.

"Yes. You are part Shadonian." Austin finished.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Depends. Zepherus probably will take it as an insult."

Dani palms herself. "Great. Another reason he'll wants me dead."

Danny laughs. "The way you survived your situation, it'll be harder to kill you."

"Thanks." Said Dani, smiling.

"Okay. Dani, since you can read the language of the Shadonians, you'll go that way, and we'll go this way and be their translator." Austin said. Dani nods, and go left, deeper into the cave. She hears Austin talking to Danny and his friends, but she's mostly paying attention to the writing, surprised by the info.

_Zepherus's life was good. He had a wife and two children. But shadows broke in and killed everyone. Heart-broken, Zerpherus went to search for the one responsible. He finds the Overshadow, and the two fought. The Overshadow won, and Zepherus begged for death. The Oveshadow gave him a choice. He can die, or he can be his servant, have ultimate power, and can be with his loved one again. Zepherus chose to be his servant and the Overshadow granted him power. But instead of bringing back his family, the Overshadow warped his memory into something evil. Zepherus, now called the shadow king, went to battle and took control of the Shadow Realm. _

When Dani is done reading, she feels almost sad for Zepherus. The shadow king went through what Dani went through: Lose their family. She continued reading and comes to the end of the cave, with an inscription that looked familiar.

_Legend says the Chosen One will come and overpower the shadow king, and destroy the Overshadow, bringing peace to the Shadow Realm. With the Dagger of Shadow, and the power of the spirit, the Chosen one will have power like no other._

Dani backs up, not believing what she read._This __description __matches __me. __A __little __too __well. _Dani thought. She walks back to the group, promising to keep that piece of info.


	20. Chapter 19: The Battle of Shadows pt 1

**Chapter 19: The Battle of Shadows part 1**

Sitting around the blackish fire, Dani and her friends, Sam, Austin, her brother, Danny, and Tucker, are telling their part of Zepherus past they read.

"It appears that Zepherus tried to take control of Earth before." stated Austin. Dani looks up from the fire when the Shadonian said his info. "Really?"

"Yeah." Danny said. "He was stopped by the ghost in the Ghost Zone and some of the Shadonians. The Cave said it was a epic battle, bigger than World War II."

Tucker says, "Talk about big."

Dani asks, "Did it say anything about the Overshadow?"

Sam shakes her head. "No. Not even a word of him."

Danny sees her sister looking at the fire, the dirt, anything but the group. "Dani, did you read anything about the Overshadow?"

"Wh-what would make you say that?" She asked nervously.

"Dani, I've been living with you for about seven month, and I can tell when you're keeping something. You mind telling us what it is?"

Dani hesitates to answer. Jake puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The ghost girl sighs, and starts her info. "Zepherus wasn't always the Overshadow's servant. He once had a family. But shadow soldiers came and killed all of them. Zepherus went after the Overshadow for revenge, but when he found him, the Overshadow won. He gave Zepherus a choice to serve him, or die."

"But if he wanted revenge, why did he become the Overshadow's servant?" asked Jake.

"Well, the Overshadow said he'd bring his family back if he chose to serve him, but he just warped his mind into a killer machine. After that, he took control of the Shadow Realm."

Sam says, "Why keep that a secret?"

"Apparently, you didn't make a connection."

Confused, Danny asks, "What connection?"

"Well, Zepherus lost his family, wanted revenge, and looks for the Overshadow. Sound familiar?"

"No. not a clue." said Tucker. The others agree, but Danny thinks that it does sound familiar.

Frustrated, Dani says, "He's like me! **I **lost my family. **I **am looking for the Overshadow. **I **want revenge. How could I be any clearer than that?"

The group is startled by her outburst. Dani gets up and walks away from the fire, sitting by the edge of the rock. Jake walks to her, and says, "Dani, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." She huffed. Jake, not convinced, sits next to her. "You sure? I think there is something else bugging you."

The teen sighs. "It's just, I'm a little afraid of this prophesy. Everyone thinks it's me, and I'm starting to think so too, but what if I fail? Unlike school, if you fail, you're pretty much dead."

Jake ponders on this. "Can you tell me the prophesy?"

Dani looks at Austin, who is talking to Danny, Sam, and Tucker. "OK. But you can't tell anyone. Promise?"

"I promise."

The ghost girl checks to see if there is anyone around. She says, "Hears the prophesy: _A __hybrid __with __the __gift __of __vision, __shall __face __the __greatest __decision. __Phantom __and __Shadow __join __to __defeat __the __Overshadow. __The __ghost __who __has __sight, __shall __choose __to __banish __or __bring __back __the __light._"

"Well, from what I can tell, I don't think you're the One." Jake said.

Dani looks at him. "What makes you say that?"

"The prophesy says 'a hybrid with the gift of vision'. And I don't think you are a diviner. At least, I think that's what they're called."

"I hope I'm not." Dani whispered. Jake didn't hear. He says, "C'mon. We need to think of a plan to defeat Zepherus." He gets up and Jake offers Dani a hand. She takes it, and the two walk back to the group.

Danny looks up. "Hey, Dani. You okay now?"

"Yeah." answers Dani. "Got any plans?"

"I think we do. Austin's got a theory on defeating him." Everyone looks at the Shadonian. He says, "From what the cave said, the element of surprise should startle him. At first."

"At first?" questioned Dani. "What about 'at all'?"

"Zepherus learns fast. Once you use it, it will be harder to get him. You're going to have to improvise."

Dani asks, "Did the cave say any other tricks?"

"The cave said a lot of tricks. But Zepherus probably has those memorized."

"OK. I guess I'll just make something up." Dani said.

"Then that leaves us with one problem." said Danny. "He's got an army at his feet. How are we going to get past the shadows and Shadonian soldiers?"

Dani smiles. "If he's got an army, then we'll just find ourselves one."

* * *

Being led by shadows, everyone gathers around City Hall, Which is surrounded by more shadows and Shadonian soldiers.

Zepherus, floating above City Hall, says, "Citizens of Amity Park. I am the Shadow King, your new leader. Obey my rules, and you all will live peacefully."

"Yeah, and what if we don't want to?" screamed a person in the crowd. Zepherus points and some shadows jump into the crowd, and drags the person away, who is screaming. Everyone watches, full of shock and fear.

"Let that be a warning to those who go against me. Now, bring your leaders forward, and we will sign a document, letting me be your king. Disobey, and you are sentenced to death." said Zepherus.

"Hey, Zephzero!"

Zepherus turns around and gets smacked in the face. He falls off the building, landing on the asphalt. The shadow king looks up and sees Dani Phantom. "You! How are you alive?"

"By now, you should've learned that it isn't easy getting rid of me." said Dani.

Zepherus gets up. "Well, it looks like there's one of you, and a whole army of shadows." Shadows and Shadonian soldiers appear in front of Zepherus, arms ready. He looks up to see Dani smiling. "Smiling at your demise?"

"You think I came flying back here without a plan?" Dani said.

Zepherus raises his eyebrow. "what would your plan be?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't ask." Dani shouts, "Now!"

All hell broke loose. Ghost appears all around, spooking the citizens. While they run to safety, Far Frozens, mythical creatures, medieval knights fights against the surprised shadows. One by one, shadows disappear, and Shadonians fall. Recovering from the surprise, Zepherus creates more shadows and they start attacking. Cujo, in his bulldog form, bites shadows and runs them over. Pandora shoots blue fire at shadows, burning them. Frostbite freezes shadows, and throws the shadow-sickles at other shadows. Princess Dora, in her dragon form, burns shadows and squishes them under her clawed feet. Ember plays her guiatar, blasting shadows. Danny blasts shadow by shadow. Once he got overpowered, but Cerberus, Pandora's guardian dog, grabs shadows and uses them as chew toys.

"Thanks, Cerberus." Danny said. He sees a familiar ghost, wearing a white and black suit, white and black cape, and a pale blue skin, shooting pink ecto beams at shadows.

"Vlad Plasmius? You're actually helping us?" asked a surprised Danny.

"Of course. You think I want that big oaf ruling Amity Park?" Vlad said. He flies to destroy more shadows in the east.

Danny resumes his blasting, while Sam and Tucker operate the Specter Speeder, shoot the flying shadows. Austin slashes Shadonians with his swords, and Jake cuts more shadows. The two went back to back, surrounded by shadows. Jake looks at Austin and a silent agreement happens. Austin grabs Jake's arm, and starts twirling around, Jake extending his sword. The two create a small black tornado, sucking shadows and tearing them to pieces. Austin stops spinning, looking fine, but Jake is a little dizzy. Dani, in her human form, slashes shadows with the Dagger of Shadow. To Dani, the Dagger didn't fell like a weapon, but a part of her arm. She laughs as she spins, jumps, and slices shadows. Dani hops over a shadow, and gets punched at a wall. Back aching, Dani lands on her feet and sees Zepherus with his black sword.

"You've been a thorn on my side for far too long. This time, no mercy." He launches at Dani, but she vanishes and Zepherus crashes into the building, crumbling it right on top of him. He digs his way out, and dusts off some gravel off his shoulder.

"Where are you, girl?" Zepherus looks for Dani, and gets a stinging pain on his back. He turns and sees the teen, clutching a black stained dagger. "I'm right here. Are you blind or something?" Dani jokes. Zepherus growls, and shoots a black beam at her. Dani jumps out of the way. She throws the Dagger at the shadow king, but he dodges it. "Missed."

The Dagger spins back to Zepherus, making a gash on his arm. Dani grabs the hilt of the Dagger. "You were saying?"

Clutching his wound, he looks at the teen. He smiles, saying, "You're starting to unlock the powers of the infamous Dagger. Too bad you won't live long enough to unlock its true power."

A throwing star appears in Zepherus's hand, and he throws it at Dani. She blocks it with the Dagger, making it stuck on a wall. Dani runs to the shadow king, jumping over the sword, and jumps over Zepherus, using his face as a platform. Zepherus swings his sword, making a cut on Dani's arm.

"Why don't you just give up? Or, even better, join the Overshadow, giving you unimaginable power." Zepherus said.

Dani says, "Sorry, Zephzero, but I would rather be dead than join the Overshadow."

The shadow king growls. "Then it's time to meet your maker." He charges Dani, but she turns invisible. Dani reappears and cuts the king's back. Zepherus twist, batting Dani with the flat of his blade. Before the teen crashes on the road, Danny flies and grabs her hand, setting her down gently.

"Thanks, bro." Dani said.

Danny salutes and flies back into the battle. The teen girl turns back to Zepherus, energy coursing through her. Zepherus charges again, but Dani points the Dagger at him, and a black ray shoots out of it, nailing the shadow king. Zepherus gets up and throws his sword at the teen. Dani blaocks it with her Dagger, but the force pushes her back and stumbling.

Dani asks, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because my master fears you, and wants you dead, or on his side. It doesn't matter to him."

"But didn't you go after him to destroy him? Didn't he kill your family?"

Zepherus hesitates. Dani thought she got through him, but the shadow king blasts her.

"So what? He gave me immortality and power. Why would I care about _family_?"

Dani gets up, her whole body aching. "Without family, your life is meaningless. You would have a big piece of yourself missing. You'd be incomplete and powerless without family."

"You think I'm powerless without a family? Look around." Zepherus waves an arm at the battle. Dani sees her army getting surround. Some flying shadows tore apart the Specter Speeder, making Sam and Tucker fall, but Danny and Austin saved them. Her friends get surround by shadows. Zepherus smiles. "If I'm powerless, than how come I defeated your army?"

Dani couldn't believe this. After surviving a fatal gash, gathering an army, and fighting to the near death with the shadow king, she was defeated. Zepherus laughs. "Before I kill you, I think I shall execute your loved ones. I want to see your face when your _family_ dies. Maybe I should start with this one." He grabs Jake and brings him up, close to the sword Dani's eyes widen. "No!"

The Dagger of Shadow starts to glow in her hand. The shadow king laughs, but before he could slit Jake's throat, a blinding flash of energy blinds Zepherus, Shadows, incinerating the nearest ones, and people around. When the flash vanishes, Zepherus looks up and sees a girl floating. She's wearing a shadow black suit that looks like Dani Phantoms suit, with a DS in the middle. Her hair seems to be floating a little, but her eyes are the strangest: Black eyes. No white, or blue, or brown. Just pure black. Her skin is pale, and her scar across her left eye is glowing black. In her hand is the Dagger of Shadow, but it's longer and more threatening. The Gladius of Shadow glows with a blackish aura, radiating power.

"What the…" Zepherus said. Dani points her sword at him, and shoots a ray at Zepherus, making him drop Jake. Jake thrust his swords in a building, slowing his fall. When he stops, Jake looks at the new Dani. "Wha-"

Zepherus, out of hiss shock, looks at the floating girl. "Who are you?"

Dani smiles. "You can call me Dani Shade." She charges the shadow king, and the two clash swords.


	21. Chapter 20: The Battle of Shadows pt 2

**Chapter 20: The Battle of Shadows part 2**

Dani Shade and Zepherus clash swords. Zepherus swings at her, but Dani flies over and punches Zepherus. The shadow king summons more shadows, who attack Dani. She flips, jumps, and slashes Shadows until there are no more.

"Are you going to hide behind shadows, or are you going to fight, Zephzero?" teased Dani.

Zepherus scowls. "How is this possible? How can a more human be a Shade? I made sure I killed them all."

Dani smiles. "Guess what, you missed one." She swings her sword, making it extend on a chain. The Gladius slashes Zepherus across the chest. Clutching his wound, Zepherus throws his sword. It misses Dani, and turns back. Dani twist and blocks the attack, but her sword flies out of her hand. The sword embeds into the wall, an inch from Jake's head.

"Whoa! Watch where you drop that!" he yelled.

"You want me to be shish kabob?" Dani said. She looks up at the shadow king.

Zepherus says, "Well. Weaponless again." He raises his sword. "And this time, you will die!" Zepherus brings his sword down.

"Dani, catch!" yelled Ember and Jake, throwing the guitar and sword. Dani grabs each in one hand, and raises it up to block the sword. Zepherus's sword bounces off, and Dani swings Jakes sword, but the shadow king blocks. Cackling with energy, Zepherus blast a ray from his sword. The teen shadow plays Embers guitar and a green swirling beam shoot out. The two blasts explode, sending both Zepherus and Dani backwards. She lands next to Ember, surrounded by shadows. Ember asks, "How many shadows are there?"

"As many as he wants." Dani answers. She gives back Ember's guitar. "Here."

Ember smiles. "Thanks." She blast more shadows, while Dani flies back to Zepherus. He says, "Why do you keep fighting? It's hopeless. Just give up."

"I will never give up. As long as I still breathe, there is still hope." Dani said. She fires at the shadow king, but he dodges. "You may be a shade, but you're powerless without the Gladius."

"You're right." said the teen. She throws Jake's sword, making Zepherus dodge. Dani extends her arm, and the Gladius of Shadow fly back to her hand. The sword glows, and Dani grips it in both hands. She points it at the king, and a black beam shoots out. Zepherus blast his own ray, and the two meet. The beam lets out a faint black dome, enveloping the teen and the shadow king. Ghost, humans, and shadows stop to watch. Danny asks Austin, "Uh, what's happening?"

"I have no idea." was his answer. "I've never seen anything like this."

Dani starts to struggle against the force of the beams. Zepherus's beam starts forcing Dani's beam back.

"Stop struggling and I will give you a painless death." Zepherus said.

Dani says, "Yeah. In your dream." She uses more power in her beam, and it slowly backs the shadow king's. The two rays move back and forth, as Zepherus and Dani Shade put more power to it. Beads of sweat start running down Dani's face, and she could feel her power slowly diminishing. Apparently, Zepherus could sense it. "Just join us. With the power we give you, you don't have to worry about being tired."

Dani doesn't answer. She concentrates on beating the shadow king, but her beam is slowly backing against Zepherus's. She doesn't know how long she can hold on. The ray is only an inch from her blade, slowly backing.

"Dani, don't give up." said Sam.

"You can beat that punk." yells Ember.

"Dani, when has a bully ever let you down?" asked Danny.

"Dani, you have the power of ten Zepherus's. I know you can fight it. Where's the stubborn girl I know?" Jake said.

Hearing this, Dani's eyes start to glow. Zepherus's beam stops, and starts receding back to him. Shocked, Zepherus puts more effort to his ray, but the beam still retreats at the sword. Cracks appear on Zepherus's sword. "How can this be? I am the most powerful being!"

"Sorry to ruin your fun," Dani said. Her beam starts breaking the shadow kings sword, and keeps going at the handle. The ray breaks the handle and hits Zepherus. "But your rule has expired."

Zepherus screams as he feels like being ripped to pieces. Black swirls appear, circling the shadow king. Zepherus starts vanishing, until a black vapor is left, and that dissolves. Dani lowers her sword, closing her eyes. Her black suit changes to her modern jeans and shirt, and the Gladius of Shadow turns back to a dagger. She falls down, and is caught in the arms of Jake. Dani open her eyes, which have turn back to sea blue eyes. "Jake?"

"Yeah, saving you from being a part of the street. Again." he said. Jake puts Dani down, helping her stay on her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little worn out."

Danny, in his human form, walks up to them. "Maybe it's an after effect from being Dani Shade."

"Zepherus?" wondered Dani.

Her brother smiles. "He's gone."

Dani sighs. "That battle pretty much drained me. I hope I don't have to go through that again."

The hybrid boy chuckles. "Yeah. Need any help getting home?"

Jake lets go of Dani, who stays on her feet. "I can handle it."

Everyone starts to walk home. Jake looks back to see Dani just standing there. "Dani, are you coming or what?"

She doesn't answer. Jake takes a closer look and sees Dani's eyes glowing gold. "Uh, Danny. I think you need to see this."

Danny tells everyone to go on, and he walks to Jake. Danny sees his sister staring at nothing with her golden eyes. He shakes Dani, trying to wake her up. "Dani. Wake up. Dani!"

The teen girl shakes her head, her eyes back to normal. She sees her brothers worried eyes. "What?"

"Dani, what was that?"

"What was what?" asked Dani.

"Your eyes were glowing gold. Is there something wrong?"

Dani grasps her head. "I don't know. I was walking when a picture appears in front of me. I saw myself fighting some creepy ghost with flaming hair. After that, I saw you looking at me."

Danny raises an eyebrow. "You, _saw_a fight with you in it?"

The teen girl nods. Danny, unexpectedly, grins. "Dani, that's awesome!"

"W-what? How is me fighting a ghost awesome?"

"You don't see it? Sis, you can see the future! What you saw was an upcoming battle with a ghost."

Dani blinks, not believing what she's hearing. The ghost boy continues to talk. "Man, this is great. We have to tell everyone. C'mon Dani."

"I'll be there in a sec." Dani said.

"OK." Danny runs to his friends. Unlike her brother, Dani is worried. She looks at Jake, and silent agreement comes between those two.

Dani Fenton is a diviner. And her future is not looking so great.

* * *

A ghost watches the teen girl run after her brother in a circular portal. The ghost is tall, muscular man wearing a light purple toga with a purple cloak connected with a gear. A hood covers is pale blue face with red eyes, and a scar running across one of his eyes. He wears pale purple gloves covered with watches. He wears a belt with a stopwatch connected to it. The most bizarre feature of this ghost is the clock in his chest. He carries a staff with a clock on top. He has a ghost tail that doesn't turn into feet.

The ghost lives in a cathedral full of clocks everywhere, one act as a clock TV. His home is surrounded by floating clocks and floats in a dark green section of the Ghost Zone.

Even though he didn't hear anything, he knows he has visitors. The ghost turns and spots two ghosts. They both have eyes in orbs for heads, and wears yellow and white togas with a black band in the middle. The two ghosts wear black capes that extend upward. Their hands end in claws, and they don't have any feet, just a straight tail.

"Observants. I was expecting you." The blue ghost said.

"Of course you expected us, Clockwork. You are the master of time." said Observant 1.

"I presume you know why we're here." Observant 2 said.

"Yes. You fear the girl's future." Clockwork turns back to his clock portal. It shows Dani Phantom fighting a woman wearing dark clothes, with flaming hair and blood red eyes. "You think her future will ruin everyone's future."

"Yes." Observant 1 said. "In order to save the future, Danielle Phantom must perish."

* * *

**Coming Soon: The Ultimate Shadow**


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